Andy Jauron of Anamosa plays in the water with 2-month-old husky, Stella, at Lake Macbride State Park in Solon on Friday, May 17, 2013. Warm weather in 2012 brought a record number of Iowans out to use the state’s camping grounds and recreation areas. (Kaitlyn Bernauer/The Gazette)

Iowa’s camping season finally has arrived, and state parks and recreation areas are ramping up with new amenities and provisions for the hordes expected to flood the sites in the coming months.

But the late spring — with wet and chilly weather, even snow, as recent as two weeks ago — means 2013 probably will be slower than the abnormally warm 2012.

“We are down simply because the weather hasn’t been conducive for early spring camping,” said Kevin Szcodronski, chief of state parks for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “We are one of those businesses that benefits from drought.”

With the nice weather in 2012, Iowa’s 57 state parks and recreation areas experienced a surge in visits and camping. There were 15.8 million visits and 709,700 camping days, according to the DNR.

Those visitation numbers marked the highest showing since at least 2007. The camping numbers were the second highest in that time period — they reached 715,417 in 2009.

Szcodronski said the fact that numbers have remained steady, and even increased in some cases, is impressive considering recent closures at some major campgrounds for flooding or renovations. The state hasn’t added new campgrounds recently, but the renovations are part of an effort to improve park amenities statewide.

“We are methodically going through the camp sites and upgrading the electricity,” Szcodronski said. “We also are looking at the camping pads and reconfiguring them to make sure there is enough space.”

The goal, eventually, is to have all state-run campgrounds equipped with sites offering 50 amps of electricity — the amount that many of today’s recreational vehicles demand, Szcodronski said. With those improvements, and a growing number of park hosts volunteering to answer visitor questions and keep an eye on bathrooms and showers, camping — regardless of the weather — should hold its spot as popular tradition in Iowa, Szcodronski said.

“Camping is an amazing phenomenon,” he said. “People come out of their quiet neighborhoods and pack themselves in like sardines, and they love it. They love to be outdoors and socialize.”

New amenities

Even though this season got off to a slow start, Szcodronski said, “people are anxious.” They began making reservations for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend in February, he said, especially for the sites with electricity.

“Modern-day campers are getting bigger and demanding more electricity,” Szcodronski said. “That is the trend we are facing, but you don’t make those improvements over night.”

Iowa still has primitive campgrounds — just for tents and vehicles — but Szcodronski said many campers today want to dry their hair, microwave food, run air conditioners and watch TV.

“The sites with electricity and running water will be the ones that fill up first,” he said. “When push comes to shove, they want amenities.”

Before the upgrades, Iowa’s electrical camping pads offered 20 to 30 amps, which isn’t enough for some of today’s campers.

The Iowa Legislature has committed $5 million a year to improve state park infrastructure, which also includes upgrading wastewater systems and adding cabins in some parks, Szcodronski said.

“We are looking at adding cabins for people who don’t have tents or a camper,” he said. “We have several parks with cabins now.”

And, Szcodronski said, the camping atmosphere can become addictive, which is why Iowa gets a lot of repeat visitors and has seen more and more campground hosts every season.

Campground hosts

Iowa’s state campgrounds have been recruiting an average of 120 to 150 hosts every season, and this year’s tally is up to 165 hosts, said Linda King, volunteer coordinator for the DNR.

“I would say it’s at its peak,” King said of the 25-year-old program.

Those 165 hosts work at 43 campgrounds or recreations areas — some have multiple hosts at once or during one season, King said.

King said the state places volunteer hosts only in parks that ask for them — and many do. In fact, even with the rise in volunteers wanting to be campground hosts, there still are some parks with vacancies, King said.

Most hosts stay for the entire camping and recreating season — from mid-April through the end of October. Duties include answering questions, keeping bathrooms and showers clean, landscaping, and simply keeping an eye on the campground.

They do not perform law enforcement duties, and they have to supply their own camper for the season. In exchange for their work, they’re allowed to camp for free for the summer.

“Our longest running host is a lady in the Des Moines area,” King said. “She has been doing it for 22 years, and she just loves it. Most camp hosts do and are great people who love being around people and love to camp.”

Many hosts volunteer in parks near where they live, allowing them to be community liaisons for guests wondering where they can grab pizza or buy propane.

“They do become ambassadors for the community,” she said.

Eddy Dirks, 52, and his wife Jane Dirks, of Marion, have been campground hosts at Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area in Palo since 2006. Dirks said he and his wife were avid campers before they started hosting, and they initially resisted hosting.

“I still wanted to camp in other areas,” he said.

But Dirks and his wife eventually gave it a shot, and they fell in love.

“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I met so many people. I made so many friends.”

Dirks and his wife both work the early shifts at their day jobs, and they’re back at the campground by 2 p.m. Once they arrive, Dirks said, they field question after question.

“Someone will have a question about the trails or where the fish are biting,” he said.

Dirks said he’s gotten used to seeing familiar faces every summer, and they have gotten use to seeing his.

“I could do this year-round,” he said.

But, had the city’s last water well been consumed by the swelling river one day prior, all 120,000-plus Cedar Rapids residents would have had to evacuate, said Stephen Hershner, the city’s utilities director. Hospitals would have been in dire straits. Rescuers would have been left with even fewer resources.

“There was a lot of Cedar Rapids that was above water,” Hershner said, but added that being dry wouldn’t have mattered had the city’s water system failed. “They would have had to get to know family outside the area.”

Instead, with heavy rains pounding the region and driving up crest predictions on June 12, the city asked for sandbagging help to save it’s only remaining water well, and the community responded. Nearly 1,000 volunteers emerged. In rain, lightening and as the night grew dark, residents who could have been protecting their property or packing their belongings came out in droves.

“By 9 p.m., we had a couple hundred people out there, and then more than 1,000,” Hershner said. “It was a crazy sight.”

Volunteers stood in five lines stretching 300 feet long and passed sandbags to build a wall around the threatened wellhouse, which sits south of the river above the Edgewood Road bridge. So many volunteers turned out that Hershner asked his brother to send people home.

“But he said, ‘I can’t do it,’” Hershner said. “The people wanted to come out.”

Roy Hesemann, Water Pollution Control utility plan manager, said sandbagging efforts barely kept ahead of the rising river, and Cedar Rapids’ drinking water system came within hours of going completely offline.

But it didn’t. And even though the city’s water system was compromised, residents on dry ground never lost full access to clean water.

There were usage restrictions, however, as crews fought through pipe leaks and downed wells to keep pressure in the lines and contaminated flood water out. At one point, Cedar Rapids drove several fire trucks to the city’s borders with Marion and Hiawatha and connected fire hoses to hydrants in both communities.

“They let us pump water back into the Cedar Rapids system,” said Roy Hesemann, Water Pollution Control utility plant manager.

By Saturday afternoon, Cedar Rapids had water flowing back into its treatment facilities. By Sunday morning, crews had all of its storage tanks refilled, Hesemann said.

“And we never got flood water into the system,” he said.

‘We are still not there’

The city’s wastewater system was another story. River overflow devastated the Water Pollution Control Facilities, resulting in tens of millions in damages and weeks out of commission.

At the time of the flood, officials thought it might take up to a year to restore service, meaning sewage backups and reduced water functionality could have become the norm for some residents.

“If you lived at the top of a hill, you were fine,” Hershner said. “If you lived at the bottom, you might get backed up lines.”

But staff and contractors persevered through unprecedented damage, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources agreed not to take action against the city for falling below standards for 90 days. Turns out, that was just enough time.

Hershner said the facility was treating wastewater according to state mandates within 12 weeks.

“The surface water was off the plant site in a day or so,” he said. “But a lot of the plant was underground, so we had to pump that water out.”

Although the city was back in business in three months, Hershner said, it was a lot of Band-Aid work. True restoration and mitigation has been ongoing and could continue for years.

“We are still not there yet,” he said.

The department is looking at another three years of work at least, officials say. It could be six or seven years, depending on funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Iowa City damage

In Iowa City, like in Cedar Rapids, floodwaters in 2008 threatened both the drinking water and wastewater facilities.

Public Works Director Rick Fosse said sandbagging efforts around one of its well fields allowed the city to keep up with the water demand. At its North Wastewater Treatment Facility, operations became limited to a pump station that allowed the city to continue pushing sewage out of the sewers.

“We put a significant effort into maintaining that pump station,” Fosse said. “If we had lost that operation, the footprint of the flood disaster would have become much larger because of sewage backups.”

Fortunately, the wastewater treatment plant on the south side of Iowa City suffered almost no damage during the flood, as it sits outside the flood plain. Since the north side plant’s devastation, the city has shuttered it and decided to consolidate all operations to the south location, Fosse said.

That work is about 50 percent done. Completion of the project is expected in April 2014, he said.

Residents trapped inside fast-flooding homes gave addresses to emergency dispatchers. But with street signs already under water, finding them proved challenging. Firefighters maneuvering the avenues by memory crashed into tree branches, and lightning threatened to make an already treacherous situation lethal.

Firefighter Justin Jensen, who manned one of the department’s boats that night, said the rain and lightning seemed to add insult to injury.

“When you are sleep deprived and you are hitting fences and cars … it’s so frustrating,” he said. “It’s like, ‘What else could go wrong?’”

The firefighters themselves had been displaced earlier in the day, and crews had to relocate from the Central Fire Station to Fire Station 5, where cots lined the floor for firefighters trying to steal some rest between rescues.

Before it was clear the river would reach epic flood levels, firefighters went door to door with the warning that “this is going to be bigger than we think,” Jensen said. Voluntary evacuations soon become mandatory, but Jensen said some were left behind – mostly individuals with special needs.

“And then we got call after call after call for a while,” he said.

‘It was panic’

At one point during the height of its rescues, the Cedar Rapids Fire Department was receiving 15 addresses at a time for residents needing help.

Maneuvering by boat also forced firefighters to battle the river’s current, and Jensen said that on several occasions, crews had to pull individuals out of the river who had tried to escape on their own.

“We plucked a couple out of a child’s playhouse in a backyard,” he said. “We were finding people standing on top of vehicles and on the on and off ramps near downtown.”

Boat rescues that began Wednesday evening didn’t taper off until Friday, according to Greg Smith, assistant chief. During that time, numerous outside agencies contributed boats to the Cedar Rapids fleet – the Iowa Department of Natural Resources gave three and agencies including Mount Vernon, Hiawatha, Ely, and Lisbon also pitched in, Smith said.

“Even citizens were coming down with their fishing boats to help out,” he said.

Firefighter Jeremy Wagner said the department couldn’t have kept up without the additional resources and manpower.

“It was incredible,” he said. “Our four boats would have been in trouble without them.”

Some of the individuals needing to be rescued didn’t want to leave and, on occasion, wouldn’t. Firefighters wouldn’t force them out but eventually would find themselves back at the same addresses – this time at the residents’ request.

After firefighters plucked individuals from their homes, they would take them to a drop site and a separate set of workers would relocate them from there. Some of the families not only were forced to say goodbye to their homes, but they had to leave loved ones in the rush of the rescues.

For a while, Wagner said, “It was panic.” And firefighters said they felt for the families and the “uncertainty of it all.” But, in the end, everyone who needed to get out did. And no one was lost.

“There were no flood-related deaths,” Wagner said. “And there was no way we could have handled that by ourselves. The people of Cedar Rapids did awesome.”

‘Looked like Armageddon’

Once the flood waters subsided, firefighters began a different sort of rescue. They spent days going through flooded homes looking for pets and individuals who remained missing – who weren’t accounted for by family members.

Firefighters, over a span of five to seven days, checked about 6,000 structures.

“I couldn’t believe the mess,” Wagner said. “Five years later, I’m surprised we are where we are today. It looked like Armageddon.”

As they walked through devastated homes and traipsed through filthy flood water, they faced a different type of danger – molds, sewer water and fumes. Jensen said crews stayed healthy by updating Tetanus and Hepatitis A vaccinations and by wearing masks.

After days spent checking blocks and blocks of devastation, firefighter Jensen said crews disposed of their contaminated gear entirely.

“We got rid of it all,” he said.

Smith said the 2008 flood provided the ultimate scenario training for flood rescues, and the department since has purchased new boats with bigger motors. Five years later, however, the department still is in a temporary space.

“But we are not far from getting out of our temporary quarters,” he said. “We’re all chomping at the bit.”

The new Cedar Rapids Central Fire Station is scheduled for completion in September at 713 First Ave. SE, with a public grand opening in October. It will provide living and training space for firefighters, as well as plenty of room for equipment and apparatus.

The temporary space has sufficed but lacks many features common in traditional fire stations.

Wagner said the 2008 flood always will remain a significant part of the department’s history. But, right now in the temporary location, it still seems ever present.

“Every time we come to work, we’re reminded of the flood,” he said.

Homes in a newer development along Hickory Court sit below an older farm Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Tiffin. 2012 population estimates for the nearly 1,000 incorporated cities in Iowa show Tiffin with the most growth since 2010. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

You don’t have to tell longtime Tiffin resident and mother of three Angie Dains that her city and the surrounding communities are booming and soon could be bursting at the seams.

She can see it in the hallways of her children’s schools. She can hear it in the construction work surrounding her neighborhood. She can feel it in the swell of traffic in and out of the Johnson County community that sits just west of Coralville and Iowa City.

“It has grown tons,” Dains, 43, said Wednesday outside her Tiffin home of 13 years. “When we moved in, there was no development behind us or to the west. But it has really built up.”

New population estimates for U.S. cities and towns in the year ending July 1, 2012, confirm the growth Dains has witnessed. Tiffin, which now has 2,247 residents, saw the biggest growth in Iowa from 2010 to 2012 — 14.23 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data made public today.

More growth

Other communities that saw notable growth rates include Hills, which ranked third in the state with 12.73 percent growth since 2010, North Liberty, which ranked 13th with a 7.07 percent growth rate and Coralville, which ranked 35th with a 3.95 percent growth rate, according to the Census Bureau.

The biggest city to experience a growth rate over 3 percent from 2010 to 2012 was Iowa City, which saw its population climb 3.11 percent from 68,016 in 2010 to 70,133 in 2012, the estimates show.

Iowa’s overall population increased .33 percent from 2010 to 3,074,186 in 2012. Des Moines, the state’s biggest city, experienced 1.02 percent growth during that time. Cedar Rapids, the second biggest city, experienced 1.23 percent growth, according to the bureau.

The Iowa municipalities that added the most people between 2010 and 2011 were Ankeny, with 3,177, followed by West Des Moines with 2,249 people and Iowa City with 2,117 new additions, according to the bureau.

Cedar Rapids, Marion, North Liberty, Coralville and Tiffin also placed high in overall population increases — they all were in the top 25, according to the Iowa numbers.

School impact

Iowa City Community School District Superintendent Steve Murley said he’s seeing the growth in the crowded hallways and in the temporary classrooms that have been added at some schools.

An external demographer that projected growth for the district — which serves more than 12,400 students and covers 133 square miles, including Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty and Hills — said it can expect to add 300 to 500 students every year for the next 10 years, according to Murley.

“That’s an elementary school every year,” he said.

In response to the region’s rapid growth, Murley said, the district’s facilities master plan will look at adding new buildings where needed and updating existing schools. Growth projections have the district considering at least three new elementary schools, a new high school and additions to current elementary and middle schools.

“We have not yet decided where the new schools would go,” he said.

The school district currently has 41 classrooms in temporary space, mostly in east Iowa City. Murley said the district is looking to buy land near those schools and in Coralville and North Liberty.

He said the region’s growth makes sense with the University of Iowa and the Hospitals and Clinics adding to the draw. He also said there are plenty of jobs and amenities available, making it more attractive.

“Over the course of the next decade, we will see an incredible amount of growth, which we are excited about,” Murley said. “I know it’s a lot of work, but I really think for our community that it’s a huge opportunity.”

Clear Creek Amana School District Superintendent Denise Schares agreed, viewing the growth of Tiffin and surrounding communities as mostly positive.

“It’s a wonderful thing as far as communities and opportunities,” she said. “But it can present some challenges.”

Clear Creek Amana — which covers 250 square miles of Eastern Iowa including Tiffin, Oxford and part of North Liberty — has seen enrollment climb from 1,575 in 2009 to 1,920 in October.

Like Iowa City, Schares’ district also is looking to manage expected “significant” growth with facility additions.

“We are considering all our options,” she said. “We are looking at how we can address immediate growth as well as use the projections to be as prepared as possible for future growth.”

Economic development is part of the reason Schares said she thinks Tiffin and other communities are booming. New residents also appreciate the small-town feel of Tiffin, for example, but want all the amenities of Iowa City, she said.

“It’s a great place to be, and people recognize that, and I think we will continue to see the growth,” Schares said. “That’s exciting.”

Growth and development

Tiffin Mayor Steve Berner said his community’s swelling population has prompted the City Council recently to approve four new residential developments totaling about 200 more housing units. All of the units are owner-occupied — half are single-family and half are multifamily.

The city has planned well for growth, Berner said, preparing new infrastructure and additional city services for a larger population. One area that will need addressing if the growth rate continues, however, is the city’s sewer plant, Berner said.

“I think it’s a great thing until our growing pains hit,” he said. “The sewer plant is going to be a problem.”

The plant is expected to reach its capacity when the city hits around 3,500 people, Berner said. That’s more than 1,000 people away, but Berner said he expects it to come quickly.

“The need for that addition will be here before we know it,” he said. “So as long as we handle that hurdle, we are in a great position to grow.”

Mike Roberts, owner of Mike Roberts Construction, is counting on that. After developing for years in North Liberty, he’s back in Tiffin, adding to the neighborhood he began developing seven years ago — Woodfield Ridge.

“The City Council has wanted me to do something,” Roberts said. “They were out of lots, and I had 80 acres out there.”

Of the 25 new lots that construction crews are building on right now, Roberts said, nearly all are sold. Another phase of 35 lots is on tap, and Roberts said he hopes to start selling those in the fall. Looking ahead, Roberts said, he could add a total of 150 more lots in the area.

“We’re really excited about Tiffin,” he said.

Elwyn Gene Miller (Johnson County Sheriff's Office)

The invasion of privacy trial for an Iowa City landlord accused of spying on several female tenants in his buildings through peepholes in bathrooms has been reset to July.

Elwyn G. Miller, 63, of Iowa City, was supposed to be tried on 11 charges of invasion of privacy involving nudity this week. But court records show his trial has been moved to July 30.

Miller was arrested in November after a woman told police she caught him watching her shower, according to criminal complaints. Upon further investigation, police accused Miller of spying on tenants between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31 in at least one of his apartment buildings — at 639 S. Lucas St.

Miller, according to the complaints, admitted to spying on female occupants on the top floor of that apartment building. He said he would go to peepholes over the girls’ showers if he heard the water running. He admitted to doing it at least once a week, according to the complaints.

Miller also owns properties at 637, 639 and 641 Lucas St. and at 1024 E. Burlington St. It’s unknown whether police identified additional victims in those buildings.

He has been out of the Johnson County Jail after posting bond since November.

Kashawn Supreme Deas, 21, of Allentown, Penn., was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of calling the K-12 school numerous times on both Aug. 20 and Sept. 19 and threatening to blow it up.

According to criminal complaints, Deas is accused of calling Regina, 2150 Rochester Ave., at 8:56 a.m. and 8:59 a.m. on Aug. 20, demanding money and saying, “I am going to blow up the school, get the kids out now.”

His third call on that day went unanswered because the school had been evacuated, according to police.

On Sept. 19, Deas is accused of calling Regina at 12:09 p.m., 12:12 p.m. and 12:33 p.m. He called two more times, but those – again – went unanswered because the school had been evacuated.

During his September calls, Deas is accused of demanding money and saying, “I am going to run into the school with a bomb strapped to myself, get out now,” according to the complaints.

Through their investigation, Iowa City police identified Deas as a possible suspect and located him with the help of the Allentown Police Department in Pennsylvania, the complaints say.

Deas, who is not yet in the Johnson County Jail, faces five felony counts of making threats. The charge is a class D felony, each punishable by up to five years in prison.

Deas is the third person arrested in the case. Brothers and Regina students Austin D. Troyer, 17, and Alex M. Troyer, 15, were arrested on Sept. 25 in connection with the threats.  Their charges involved aiding and abetting, because they were accused of acting with the third person.

Because the teens were juveniles at the time of their arrest, the status of their cases is unknown. Calls to the family were not immediately returned.

Both bomb threats “massive disruption” to the school and community, according to police. Classes were cancelled on both days, and students were taken to a safe place, where parents could come pick them up.

No suspicious packages were found on either occasion.

Gerald Gerard (Johnson County Sheriff's Office)

A 50-year-old Iowa City man is in the Johnson County Jail this morning on felony charges after police found more than 10 pounds of marijuana in his house, just east of downtown.

Members of the Johnson County Drug Task Force executed a search warrant for Gerald Lawrence Gerard at 1102 East Davenport St. at 2 p.m. March 1, according to a criminal complaint. During the search, investigators found more than 10 pounds of marijuana and $20,535 – much of which was kept together in a large safe in the basement, according to the complaint.

The search also turned up digital scales, drug paraphernalia and other items related to the manufacturing of marijuana in the home, police reported.

There are about 448 grams of marijuana in a pound, meaning Gerard is accused of having 4,480 grams of marijuana.

He has been charged with a controlled substance violation and possession with intent to distribute without a tax stamp, both felonies. Gerard remained in jail Friday morning in lieu of a $15,000 cash-only bond, according to online records.

He does not have an extensive criminal history in Iowa.

The Tuscany Day Spa at La' James International College is located inside one of the beer caves the were part of the Union Brewery in what is now the Brewery Square building on Jan. 7, 2011, in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

La James International College in Iowa City, a well-known beauty school, is facing several accusations that it violated Iowa Code related to sanitary practices and licensing requirements.

The Iowa Board of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences announced Thursday that is has filed 10 charges against the school at 227 E. Market St. and that the college, its owner Cynthia Becher and college administrator Tracy LaDage could face disciplinary action.

According to the statement of charges made public by the board Thursday, a state investigator visited the college on June 14, 2012. During that inspection, the state official found non-circulating spas containing debris, with logs that did not specify which tub had been cleaned and who had done the cleaning, according to the documents.

The state also reported finding pouches holding scissors that were laden with hair clippings and pens, paper and Chapstick intermingled with cleaning supplies at student stations.

When asked about the school’s esthetics classroom, college administrator LaDage said the school had closed it after finding a student asleep. She also said it was possible that a student instructor would be placed in a classroom situation alone, and she said new employees were given 90 days to obtain an instructor’s permit – although she couldn’t say whether that was a La James’ policy or state law.

“Respondents failed to exercise professional competency within their scope of practice as instructor and owner failed to provide a quality standard of learning,” according to the document.

Charges La James faces include failing to disinfect instruments and equipment, failing to clean and document cleaning of pedicure spas, failing to provide an esthetics classroom, failing to meet instructor-to-student ratios, employing instructors without certification and failing to supervise student instructors.

In an emailed statement, Becher — who owns all seven of the college locations — said that she and her staff just learned of the allegations on Thursday, nearly a year after the suspect inspection.

“We were surprised by the allegations since the prior three inspections at the La James Iowa City school met state regulatory requirements,” she said in the statement. “However, it is not and will not be our practice to resolve any legal or regulatory issues through the news media.

She went on to say that it is “important to our clients and our staff that all state laws and regulations be met in our facilities.”

A disciplinary hearing on the charges is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2014, in the board’s conference room in Des Moines. If any of the allegations are founded, the board could take disciplinary action against the defendants.

On the La James website, Becher boasts 40 years of experience and past service on several boards, councils and cosmetology associations. She was named Iowa Business’s Education Person of 2007 and Small Business Woman of the Year in 2004.

La James has been educating students for more than 75 years, according to the website. It lists its mission “to enroll, educate, graduate and place.”

Melissa Levell (left) and Stacy Levell

UPDATE 4:30 p.m.: A couple has been arrested on suspicion of stealing jewelry belonging to an Iowa City man’s deceased wife and then pawning it to help pay rent.

Stacy James Levell, 40, and Melissa Kay Levell, 38, are accused of visiting a man — who they knew as a friend or acquaintance — at his Iowa City home on H Street on March 10 and taking jewelry that his wife left to him after she died, according to a criminal complaint.

The pair is accused of taking 12 rings worth more than $15,000, police reported. Stacy Levell returned to the victim’s home the next day and admitted to taking the jewelry because he needed rent money, police reported.

He said he pawned them at Money and More Pawn Shop in Iowa City, and then he asked the victim if he could borrow money, according to the complaint.

An investigator went to the pawn shop in search of the rings and discovered that the pair had pawned 11 of the rings for a total of $1,307, according to the complaint. The most expensive ring was not pawned there, the investigator reported.

Both suspects were arrested on charges of felony first-degree theft and booked into the Johnson County Jail on Tuesday, according to online records.

On the same day, Stacy Levell was arrested and booked on an apparently unrelated charge of third-degree theft for taking money from Marco’s Taxi. Levell was a driver for the cab service, according to a criminal complaint, and during an audit of his logs, managers discovered that he had been falsifying his daily log totals and keeping the difference.

When a manager confronted Levell about the suspected lying and stealing, Levell vowed it wouldn’t happen again, according to the complaint. In a subsequent audit, however, Levell is accused of again falsifying his records and again taking a total of $703.30 that belonged to Marco’s Taxi, according to police.

A home address if not listed for the Levells in the criminal complaints. They were released from jail Wednesday morning.

Stacy Levell’s criminal history in Iowa includes arrests on drugs, theft and assault charges. He also has numerous financial-related court actions on his record. Melissa Levell also has a long criminal history in Iowa, including prior convictions for disorderly conduct, forgery and theft. She also has financial-related court actions on her record.

Brittany Honer helps her daughter, Kaitlin Ansell, 5, across the monkey bars at Jacolyn Park on Tuesday, May 7, 2013, in Cedar Rapids. A U.S. Census Bureau reports a big spike among unwed mothers in the 20 to 24 age range, which includes Honer, 22. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

On most days, it’s just Brittany Honer and her 5-year-old daughter, Kaitlin Ansell.

They color. They go to the park. They play with toys or read until the 22-year-old single mom takes Kaitlin to an evening day care so she can work the late shift at a Casey’s General Store in Cedar Rapids.

Their routine, for the most part, is stable, comfortable — even nice. But sometimes, Honer said, she wishes she knew more people like her — young single parents.

“I don’t have many friends anymore,” Honer said last week as her daughter busied herself coloring. “Kaitlin wants to be around other kids. And most of my friends don’t have kids.”

Despite Honer’s feeling of isolation, U.S. Census Bureau and Iowa statistics show she’s gaining company. The percent of live births to unmarried parents in Iowa swelled from 6 percent in 1969 to 35 percent in 2009, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Big increases

Some of the bigger jumps came in the 1980s and 1990s. Before the 1960s — from 1936 and 1961 — the percent of out-of-wedlock births in Iowa held steady at just 2 percent, according to state data.

“I think that it is fair to say that something or things happened — or started — in the ’60s that transformed our society, for better and for worse,” said David Hagen, outcomes data analyst for the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program.

Nationally, of the 4.1 million women ages 15 to 50 who in 2011 reported giving birth in the last year, 36 percent were unmarried, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report. That’s up from 2005, when about 31 percent of recent births were to unmarried women, according to the report.

The percent of unwed parents seems to be notably high among those in the 20 to 24 age range. As of 2011, according to the bureau, 62 percent of new parents in that group were unmarried, compared to 17 percent among parents ages 35 to 39.

“The increased share of unmarried recent mothers is one measure of the nation’s changing family structure,” said Rose Kreider, a family demographer with the bureau and one of the report’s authors.

Reasons for rise

Social shifts, along with cultural differences, are among the top reasons unmarried parenting has become more common, said University of Iowa associate sociology professor Mary Noonan.

For starters, she said, having a baby out of wedlock no longer is stigmatized like it was during and before the 1960s when expecting mothers and fathers felt pressured toward “shotgun weddings.” In today’s society, rather, women who want to have children don’t perceive marriage as a prerequisite, Noonan said.

“They just don’t see where the marriageable men are, but they want to move ahead with this other aspect of their identity,” Noonan said. “And now they feel free to do that. They don’t feel like they’ll be looked down upon.”

New parents in the 21st century might choose to stay single, or a couple might prefer to cohabitate and procreate before tying the knot, Noonan said. Some might stay together but decide never to marry.

According to the Child Trends Data Bank, 58 percent of all non-marital births from 2006 to 2010 occurred within cohabitating unions.

“There are declining marriage rates and increasing cohabitation rates,” Noonan said. “The scandalousness of it all is gone.”

Cultural trends

Cultural differences also come into play, Noonan said. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that of the new mothers who associated black or African-American, nearly 68 percent were unmarried.

Among those listed as Hispanic, 43 percent were unmarried, and for those new moms who called themselves white or Caucasian, 26 percent were unmarried, according to the report. Asians had the lowest percent of unwed mothers, with 11.3 percent.

Noonan said it’s not that new mothers in cultures with low marriage rates devalue matrimony.

“It’s almost that they overvalue it,” she said. “They view it as something you do after you have achieved success in other areas of your life.”

Sometimes women choose to stay single because they don’t think the father will be an asset or a good role model, Noonan said. That’s not necessarily a bad decision, she said, although extensive research related to children of non-married parents shows they don’t do as well in society and in school.

Noonan argued that marriage might not be as related to a child’s success as finances. Single parents often have tighter budgets, meaning their kids might not end up in the best schools and with the same opportunities.

For reasons including the reported impact on children and an increased reliance on government aid, lawmakers and service agencies continue work to lower the single parenting rate, Noonan said.

Impacts of shift

More than half of the 600 moms and dads who receive services at the Young Parents Network in Cedar Rapids are single, according to program officials. That has unplanned pregnancy prevention high on the list of services it provides to the community.

Program officials visit middle and high schools to share prevention methods and life skills, said Brian Stutzman, executive director of the organization.

“We stand aligned that kids are most functional when they have a mom and dad involved and in the equation,” Stutzman said. “We don’t see the father-absence issue as being a positive trend. They have a higher chance of poverty and higher chance of instability.”

One trend Stutzman does see as positive is the slight shift away from teenage pregnancy. He said that change might be one reason there are more single moms in their 20s.

“The first onset of pregnancy has been moving up a couple of years due to education and access to contraception,” he said. “That’s a good trend. But it does push the issue to the older young adults.”

In response, the Young Parents Network has started targeting some of its prevention methods and resources toward local colleges and universities, said program manager Crystal Hall.

“When I first started, the average age of our participants was 17 or 18,” she said. “Now we are seeing an average age of 20 to 21.”

Hall said single parents often deal with higher levels of stress and more financial issues. About 80 percent of the young parents served by the network are living at 180 percent of the federal poverty level, Hall said.

Brittany Honer said she has her own apartment and a secure job, but budget concerns continue to weigh on her.

“Financial issues are the No. 1 thing with having a kid so young,” she said. “I just can’t do college right now.”

Kevin Shannon

A 61-year-old Iowa City man was arrested over the weekend after police said he confronted, at gunpoint, a 12-year-old boy looking for lawn-mowing jobs and posed as an undercover police officer.

Kevin John Shannon faces six criminal charges, including felony first-degree robbery, and he’s being held in the Johnson County Jail in lieu of a $50,000 cash-only bond.

According to a criminal complaint, the boy was soliciting neighbors for lawn-mowing jobs at 3:22 p.m. Sunday, when he approached Shannon’s home at 1264 Dover St. Shannon, according to police, declined to have the boy mow his lawn, but he gave the child $10 anyway and told him he was an “undercover cop.”

As the boy continued talking with neighbors, he told police that Shannon approached him at the intersection of Wayne Avenue and Arthur Street, north of Mercer Park, and demanded the $10 back. The boy said that Shannon then pulled a handgun from his waistband, pointed it at him and said, “Give me my (expletive) money back,” according to the complaint.

Shannon also is accused of threatening to shoot the boy, police reported. The boy told police that he gave Shannon back the money and that he was afraid Shannon was going to shoot and kill him, according to the complaint.

Shannon is accused of driving 1999 GMC Sonoma pickup truck to find the boy, and the child told police that Shannon nearly was in a collision, according to the complaint. The boy told police that Shannon smelled strongly of alcohol.

Immediately after the confrontation, the boy ran to a trusted adult and authorities were called. The adult described the boy as “shaken up and scared” and Shannon as intoxicated, police reported.

Authorities were able to track down Shannon and the vehicle the boy had described, and the child positively identified Shannon as the man who had confronted him.

When interviewed by investigators at his home, Shannon admitted to retrieving money back from the boy and to having a gun when he confronted him, but he denied threatening the child, according to police.

While talking to police, the officers noticed that Shannon smelled strongly of alcohol, slurred and rambled and had blood-shot and watery eyes, according to the complaint. Shannon’s blood alcohol content level tested at .220 a short time later, police reported.

In addition to the felony robbery charge, Shannon faces charges of drunken driving, public intoxication, impersonating a public official, first-degree harassment and displaying a deadly weapon.

Shannon does not have a significant criminal history in Iowa.

Megan Costello

A Cedar Rapids woman is facing a slew of felony and misdemeanor drug charges after police found a smorgasbord of drugs and paraphernalia in her car early this morning.

Megan Eileen Costello was pulled over at 1:26 a.m. near the intersection of Highland Avenue and Highland Court in Iowa City, and officers discovered she had a revoked license, according to a criminal complaint.

Upon further investigation, police noticed an odor of marijuana coming from the car, and a subsequent search turned up more than 100 grams of marijuana, more than 30 grams of cocaine, three grams of heroin, 17 hits of LSD and several prescription medications, according to the complaint.

Officers also found packaging materials, a digital scale, and several cell phones.

Costello faces seven felony drug possession or tax stamp charges along with serious and aggravated misdemeanor charges. She’s being held in the Johnson County Jail, although a bond amount has not yet been set.

Costello doesn’t have an extensive criminal history in Iowa, although she does have one prior drug conviction in Linn County, according to online court records.

David Alexander Rose

With the weather starting to turn and summer right around the corner, one Coralville man is accused of trying to take advantage.

David Alexander Rose, 35, was arrested Wednesday after police said he broke into the Sunglass Hut kiosk in the Coral Ridge Mall and stole more than $11,000 in high-end shades. Rose is accused of taking more than 60 pairs of sunglasses from the locked kiosk in the mall at 1451 Coral Ridge Ave., according to a criminal complaint.

Rose was identified by police as a suspect based on fingerprints found at the scene, according to the complaint. When investigators served a search warrant at Rose’s home in Coralville, they reported finding one pair of the stolen glasses and other evidence that he was responsible for the Sunglass Hut heist.

The stolen glasses were valued at more than $11,000, according to police. Rose was booked into the Johnson County Jail on Wednesday, where he’s being held in lieu of $15,000 bond on suspicion of first-degree theft and third-degree burglary, both felonies.

Rose has a long criminal history in Iowa, including convictions for burglary, theft, assault and alcohol violations. He previously has been sentenced to prison, according to online court records, and earlier this year he was convicted of violating parole and placed on work release through the Hope House in Coralville.

Iowa City police responded to the intersection of Jefferson and Clinton streets in downtown Iowa City at 8:13 a.m. on a report of a pedestrian who had been hit by a Cambus. Upon further investigation, officers learned that a man was crossing Clinton Street eastbound, within the north crosswalk, when he was struck by the bus, which was turning north onto Clinton Street from eastbound Jefferson Street, according to a news release.

The man was taken by ambulance to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where he is being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The driver, Audrey Kelly, 20, of Iowa City, was ticketed for failure to yield to a pedestrian within a crosswalk. Kelly is listed in the university’s online database as both a liberal arts and sciences student and an employee for the parking and transportation division.

Kelly is listed on the website as being from Dubuque. She does not have a criminal history in Iowa, according to online court records.

An aerial view of a fire in the liner system at the Iowa City Landfill May 29, 2012. The fire started May 26.( Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Iowa City firefighters were busy last year, responding to about 10 percent more calls than in 2011, including 39 percent more fires, according to the department’s annual report released this week.

When compared to five years ago, the Iowa City Fire Department saw a 20 percent rise in its total call volume, according to the new report. And almost 25 percent of the time, the department in 2012 was responding to multiple calls at once – up from 19.8 percent in 2011.

“It’s not uncommon for us to have multiple emergencies going on at one time,” said Iowa City Fire Department Chief Andy Rocca. “That could affect our response reliability, if we see that continue to creep up.”

The department’s response time in 2012 put two engine companies, a ladder and a battalion chief at the scene of a structure fire within 11 minutes and 41 seconds, 90 percent of the time, according to the report.

The department continues to seek ways to decrease response times to all emergencies, according to the report. This might include keeping fire apparatus in response districts or adding coverage in districts while crews conduct training drills.

Regarding actual fires, the department responded to 225 in 2012, compared with 162 in 2011, according to the report. Much of that increase was due to unattended cooking fires, Rocca said.

“We have a propensity here to fire something up and fall asleep, and then we have a ripping grease fire on the stove top or a pizza that is well-cooked in the oven,” Rocca said. “Certainly we have some work do to in terms of educating the public on the cooking-fire aspect.”

The department also took 796 false alarm calls, occupying more than 250 hours of firefighters’ time, according to the report. That is up slightly from 2011, and Rocca said the department appreciates any help it can get toward reducing that total.

“We credit the (University of Iowa) for their aggressive approach on dealing with false alarms,” he said. “They charge contractors that are frequent flyers on false alarms.”

The total amount of loss due to fires in Iowa City in 2012 reached just over $4.9 million, with the costliest fire being the blaze that erupted at the Iowa City landfill last May and smoldered for months. The landfill fire, at 3900 Hebl Ave., cost more than $4 million alone.

The fire was believed to have been started after someone dropped off hot waste at the site.

Emergency medical incidents accounted for the largest number of firefighting response in 2012 – with 3,103. Department personnel spent more than 840 hours at medical emergencies or motor vehicle accidents, according to the report.

Rocca said that increase is due largely to the older population here.

“We have an aging population and a lot of areas where you can get assisted and elderly housing,” he said. “As we see those populations increase, it’s not a surprise that our medical emergencies would increase as well.”

Gabriel Badding

An 18-year-old University of Iowa student accused of stabbing two men early Sunday in Iowa City is now in the Johnson County Jail after authorities found him in his girlfriend’s dorm room on the Western Illinois University campus.

Gabriel E. Badding, of Oak Park, Ill., is accused of stabbing two men in downtown Iowa City at 1:57 a.m. Sunday following a verbal altercation, according to a criminal complaint. Badding, according to police, stabbed one man several times causing serious injuries, including two wounds in the man’s torso, near vital organs.

That victim’s friend, who tried to intervene, suffered a deep stab wound in his right tricep, according to the criminal complaint that was made public Thursday.

Badding ran from the area, and authorities issued a Hawk Alert to UI students and staff members, alerting them to the downtown attack. Several tipsters called police after the alert and gave Badding’s name as a possible suspect based on the physical description given, according to the complaint.

Over the course of the day, authorities determined that Badding had gone to Illinois, and his vehicle was found in a parking lot on the Western Illinois University campus, according to police. Western Illinois police helped by watching Badding’s car, and they eventually tracked him to his girlfriend’s dormitory room, according to the complaint.

Western Illinois arrested Badding on an Iowa City warrant, and they obtained a search warrant for his vehicle, where they found items apparently tied to the investigation, police reported.

Badding, who was booked into the Johnson County Jail on Wednesday afternoon, is facing charges of willful injury causing serious injury and willful injury, both felonies. He’s being held in lieu of a $100,000 bond.

Badding is listed as a liberal arts and sciences student at the University of Iowa. He is living in Burge Hall, according to online UI records.

The new Iowa Business Specialty Court Pilot Project began accepting applications Wednesday from parties involved in qualifying business or commercial cases, like those with $200,000 or more in dispute that meet other qualification requirements.

The three-year pilot project, staffed by a trio of judges trained in complex business issues, aims to make the legal process for business litigants more efficient, quicker and more consistent.

The specialty court also will be used as a sort of “laboratory,” meaning it will test different techniques and tools to see if they might be successful for the entire Iowa judicial system.

“We will be allowed to experiment a little more with novel approaches to getting cases ready for trial and resolving cases,” said Polk County District Court Judge Michael Huppert, one of the three judges chosen to hear cases in the new business court. “The sky is the limit as far as what we can do to get cases through the system.”

Judges on the court might also allow teleconferencing and video conferencing for some hearings, saving both themselves and the litigants involved from having to travel as much.

“When parties come from far-flung parts of the state, the travel time and expense is often too difficult,” said Scott County District Court Judge John D. Telleen, another of the business court’s selected judges. “There is no reason we can’t be open to more teleconference hearings.”

The state’s new business court emerged out of an 84-member Iowa Civil Justice Reform Task Force formed in 2010 to consider court innovations that could make Iowa’s justice system faster, less complicated, and more affordable.

Other anticipated advantages of the court include consistency in opinions coming from judges experienced in complicated business issues, and the bolstering of case law in complex commercial cases.

“There is a synergy that exists when the same judge is working on a case and coming at it with an approach that is flexible and innovative,” said Monroe County District Court Judge Annette J. Scieszinski, also a business court judge. “It adds energy and focus and creates a different kind of dynamic from the normal docket.”

The three judges – Scieszinski, Telleen and Huppert – were chosen based on their educational background, judicial and trial experience and personal interest in the project. They will balance their new responsibilities on the business court with a regular caseload.

Iowa Supreme Court Justice Daryl Hecht, who chaired the Iowa Civil Justice Reform Task Force, said there will be periodic reviews of the business court’s progress and development.

“At the end of the three-year pilot, the court will decide whether it should become a permanent program,” Hecht said. “Along the way, the demand for participation in the docket will drive the court’s decision about whether additional specialty court judges should be appointed.”

Cases that are just beginning and those that have been in the works for some time will be eligible for the new court.

As soon as applications come in, the state court administrator will determine whether they qualify and then immediately contact a judge to assign it. The chosen judge would then hold a prompt conference – meaning the specialty court could begin as soon as an applicant is accepted.

Eligible cases for the business court docket must have claims totaling $200,000 or more and involve civil litigation such as:

Technology licensing agreements

Intellectual property rights

Patent rights

Relate to internal affairs of businesses

Breach of contract

Fraud

Commercial class action

Trade secrets

Antitrust

Commercial real property disputes

Business tort claims between businesses or individuals.

Officials with UnityPoint Clinic-Cardiology, formerly known as Cardiologists L.C., said the change will become effective June 1, allowing the group of cardiologists to focus on developing a “heart and vascular center of excellence.”

The center will be based at St. Luke’s Hospital, which acquired UnityPoint in 2010, and aims to offer specialized, state-of-the-art care so patients don’t have to travel outside the Cedar Rapids area.

“Our goal and commitment is to build and implement a center for cardiac care that is the best in the community and the best in the region,” said Todd Langager, physician and president of the Cedar Rapids-based UnityPoint Clinic-Cardiology.

“By developing state-of-the-art cardiac care, we are going to improve options and provide better care,” Langager said. “So it’s to the patients’ benefit.”

But some patients and Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids – where UnityPoint cardiologists used to provide service – are not happy with the change. Mercy officials say it takes away patient options at a time when patient-center care should take precedent.

And some patients say it feels oppressive.

“This has now become a dictatorship,” said Donna Aljets, 61, of Marion, whose 35-year-old daughter sees a cardiologist with UnityPoint for a heart valve problem. “They are dictating where you have to go for care if you’re a cardiology patient.”

Opposition

Aljets said her daughter, father and mother all have been seen by the same UnityPoint cardiologist over the years – someone she respects and trusts. But, Aljets said, she’s not interested in switching hospitals.

“I really want to see a doctor on this list that I have a lot of respect for, but now I don’t have that option,” she said. “And I think the backlash on this is going to be a lot bigger than they ever thought.”

Aljets said her family probably will switch cardiologists because of UnityPoint’s new exclusivity. But, she said, she’s not happy about it and blames politics and local competition.

“They have forgotten what they are all about,” she said. “It’s not about how much money they can make.”

Cam Campbell – cardiologist and medical director of the Cedar Rapids Heart Center, which still provides cardiology services at Mercy Medical Center – said Mercy doesn’t support UnityPoint’s exclusivity.

“We feel that putting patients at the center will drive a better outcome,” Campbell said. “When you limit choices, you limit potential outcomes.”

But, Campbell stressed, Mercy Medical Center will continue offering the same services they did before, including emergency room treatment and routine clinical services. In fact, Campbell said, Mercy was the first “chest pain certified clinic” in Linn County, meaning cardiologists for the past four years have been able to open 100 percent of patients’ arteries within 90 minutes of their arrival.

Very few hospitals in the nation can do that,” he said.

Campbell said patient-centered care thrives on communication and choices, and he doesn’t believe any hospital can meet every need of every current or potential patient.

“When you tell patients you have to come here and we are having a center of excellence that can do everything, I beg your pardon,” Campbell said. “I think second opinions are valuable.”

Since UnityPoint’s announcement, according to Campbell, Mercy has been “overwhelmed” with callers asking to transfer away from UnityPoint so they can continue going to Mercy.

About 25 percent of UnityPoint’s patients were going to Mercy, before this change, and about 90 percent of Cedar Rapids Heart Center patients are at Mercy, according to clinic officials. Campbell said that while Mercy doesn’t support this change, it does clarify the vision of “making Mercy the best in patient-care experience and outcomes.”

“It’s an opportunity for us to work even closer as a team to help improve those outcomes, which have been amazing,” Campbell said.

‘A perfect fit for us’

Even though UnityPoint has been serving patients at both Mercy and St. Luke’s for years, Langager with UnityPoint Clinic-Cardiology said St. Luke’s has several cardiology specialties that Mercy doesn’t provide. Those include cardiac surgery, and several specialized procedures.

“Those are examples of things that we only do here and that allow us to grow our areas of expertise,” Langager said. “Medicine is more complex, and we are devoting our energies in much more defined areas.”

Before now, according to Langager, UnityPoint has had to dedicate a physician to be at Mercy for emergent care, and “that has been time consuming and resource consuming.” Removing that obligation allows St. Luke’s to focus on becoming a regional leader in a rapidly-changing healthcare landscape, Langager said.

“This is a perfect fit for us,” he said.

Langager said St. Luke’s has heard from several patients who have preferred Mercy in the past and are uncertain about the need for this change. He said some people expressed disappointment. But, he said, the majority are understanding and supportive.

At this point, he said, the number of patients who have decided to leave UnityPoint has been “quite minimal.”

Miranda Lalla

A Johnson County judge – for the fifth time – has set a new trial date for an Iowa City woman accused of hitting and killing her friend with a Dodge Ram truck last summer.

Miranda Lalla, 51, was supposed to be tried on vehicular homicide and drunken driving charges May 7 – the fourth trial date she’s had since being arrested June 18. But, according to online court records, a judge found that, “for good cause shown,” her case should be continued again.

Lalla now is scheduled to be tried Aug. 20. She remains at the Johnson County Jail, where she has been held since her arrest – nearly a year ago – in lieu of a $100 bond.

Vehicular homicide, when associated with a drunken driving charge, is a class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Lalla previously was granted a later trial date because she retained a new attorney, according to court records.

She is accused of killing her friend, Pamela Gross, 44, of Iowa City, by running over her with a truck on June 17 in the parking lot at 315 First St. in Iowa City. Officers responded to the apartment complex parking lot about 7 p.m. and found Gross with fatal injuries.

She was rushed to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where she was pronounced dead, according to court documents.

Through their investigation, officers learned that Lalla and Gross had gotten into an argument that escalated into a physical fight, according to police records. When Lalla tried to leave in her truck, Gross stood next to the open driver’s side door and was knocked down as Lalla reversed, police said.

Lalla, who initially was charged only with OWI, told police that she had been at the Jobsite bar in Iowa City that evening and drove a friend home, where they began to argue in the parking lot, according to police. Officers tested Lalla’s blood-alcohol content level at the scene at .093, police reported.

Josh Carew ran for the presidency in his native country, Sierra Leone. Carew, a retired UPS employee, cashed in his retirement account to fund his campaign. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

When longtime Cedar Rapids resident and Sierra Leone native returned to the west African nation last year to run for the top political seat, he didn’t win – technically.

But Joshua Carew’s bid in Sierra Leone’s 2012 presidential election surprised a lot of people. He and his newly-established political party, the Citizens Democratic Party, placed fourth out of nine candidates, earning 22,863 votes, according to the country’s National Electoral Commission.

“The country was surprised,” Carew said earlier this month from his home in Cedar Rapids, where he has been living since first leaving Africa for the United States about 39 years ago. “They got the message. Even now, people are asking for me to come back.”

And that’s what he’s planning to do. Fueled by a surprising showing in his first presidential bid and by his grand vision for Sierra Leone, Carew said he plans to pack his bags in the next few weeks and return home to mount a second fight to become the nation’s leader.

Sierra Leone holds presidential elections every five years, but Carew said this time he plans to involve other countries and gain international support for his vision.

“The best thing we can do is to start something and try to finish it,” Carew said, adding that he has a lot of work ahead of him. “It’s a massive re-education effort.”

Motivation to run

Carew, 60, came to Cedar Rapids in 1974 at age 22 to further his education. He attended Kirkwood Community College and Mount Mercy University, and he eventually landed a job with UPS, where he spent 35 years until retiring one year ago.

Despite his U.S. address, Carew tried to visit Sierra Leone often – even annually – to “see how things were going.” His heart often was broken, and from 1991 to 2002 a civil war paralyzed the nation, devastating public services, infrastructure, government institutions and Carew’s world.

During the conflict, Carew said his sister was hunted, taken to a field and fatally shot.

“My sister was killed in that war,” he said. “There were a lot of lives lost.”

Carew said the conflict was a result of bad leadership, and it made him realize that something had to change.

“This cannot continue,” he said. “It was an unruly war with no cause or reason.”

His father – Benjamin A. Carew – for years was the first bishop of the United Method Church in Sierra Leone, and Carew said he admired his father’s role and ability to lead. But, Carew said, he realized that position’s power was limited to making a difference and implementing change in the religious community.

“To really change things, you need political support,” he said.

One of his six children, Selinya Carew, 33, said her father is the perfect person to garner that support and lead the nation to prosperity.

“He has a really sincere interest in making a difference,” she said.

Because of his father, according to Selinya Carew, her father remains part of an influential family in Sierra Leone, and he could move back and live a privileged life, despite the struggles others are enduring.

“But he wouldn’t have the peace of mind,” she said. “It wouldn’t be the right way.”

Vision for the future

Carew’s presidential mission, in part, is to re-educate Sierra Leon’s citizens about their rights, bring democracy back to the country, and manage the nation’s wealth. Sierra Leone has vast natural resources, according to the European Commission, but 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line – 26 percent live in extreme poverty.

Over the next five years, Carew said, he’s going to lay the ground work for when he takes office.

“When I win next time, it will be easier because I will be taking the country from a new level into prosperity,” he said. “I will have 6 million lives in my hands, and I won’t sell them to nobody for nothing.”

Carew said he also will eliminate political manipulation and social injustice, and he’ll ensure observance of the law, no matter one’s creed, color or status.

“Our campaign was based on an ideology against corruption,” he said.

His brand new party garnered only 1 percent of the population’s vote during the 2012 election, according to the National Electoral Commission, but Carew said he wasn’t competing on a level playing field. He didn’t have a dime, he had no name or party recognition, and he didn’t have the resources to advertise or participate in rallies.

And even then, Carew said, his party’s debut broke records and surprised contenders with its ideological message.

“I didn’t go down there to make friends,” he said. “And we want to make sure we finish this job.”

If he becomes president in five years, Carew said, he’ll immediately address the nation’s biggest issues – including poverty, healthcare and corruption. Until then, he said, he’ll do what he can.

“I will limit suffered over the next four years, until we win, and then the people won’t have to worry anymore,” Carew said. “We are going to turn everything upside down.”

Gabriel E. Badding was taken into custody by the Western Illinois University police in Macomb, Ill. about 4:30 p.m. Sunday on an Iowa City warrant, according to a news release. Iowa City police learned of Badding as a possible suspect following tips from the public.

Badding, of Oak Park, Ill., is listed as a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences student at the UI, living in Burge Residence Hall. He’s facing charges of willful injury causing serious injury and willful injury, both felonies. He’s being held in the McDonough County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond. He’s awaiting extradition to Iowa, according to Iowa City police.

The alleged stabbing occurred at 1:57 a.m. Sunday when two men said they had been stabbed in an altercation near the intersection of Dubuque and Washington streets.

One victim suffered several stab wounds to the torso area, two of which were near vital organs, according to police. The second suffered a deep stab wound to the upper arm when he tried to intervene to help the first victim, police reported.

None of the injuries appeared to be life threatening, and the men were taken to the UI Hospitals and Clinics for treatment.

The UI issued a Hawk Alert immediately after the stabbing, generating several calls to the Iowa City Police Department identifying Badding as a possible suspect, police reported. Subsequent investigation has confirmed Badding’s identity, involvement and possible location in Illinois, police reported.

Iowa City police contacted the Western Illinois University Police, who found Badding’s vehicle parked on campus. When they found him, they took him into custody without incident, Iowa City police reported.

Criminalist Sabrina Seehafter uses a light with a wavelength at 430 nanometers and orange-tinted goggles to view a sample shirt during a demonstration at the Iowa DCI crime lab on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, in Ankeny. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

At 4 a.m. on June 5, 2007, Micah Matthews broke into a 50-year-old woman’s Iowa City home, woke her and forced her at gunpoint to drive to an ATM and withdraw cash.

Matthews then pistol-whipped her, sexually assaulted her and bound her wrists and ankles with a phone cord. The woman survived but endured months with her attacker free and unidentified.

It wasn’t until Feb. 1, 2008, that investigators got a hit on DNA evidence discovered at the crime scene. Matthews had been required to submit a DNA sample after a separate conviction for felony burglary, and it matched genetic material collected from the 2007 sex assault.

In February 2009, Matthews was convicted of the violent crime and sentenced to life in prison.

But, had Matthews been required to provide a DNA sample after he was convicted on an aggravated misdemeanor in 2005, authorities said they might have caught him right away. That would have provided reassurance and closure to the victim and kept him from committing another crime.

“DNA is used to identify people who have committed other offenses,” said Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness. “So if you expand the (DNA) database, you solve more crimes.”

A bill that proposes doing just that – expanding the state’s DNA sampling to include everyone convicted of an aggravated misdemeanor instead of just felonies and sex offences – is under consideration in the Iowa Legislature. Many in law enforcement support the bill’s passage, but opponents call it an unnecessary violation of privacy.

The bill passed through the House in March and has endured proposed amendments in the Senate. Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the bill remains “under active consideration” but faces some challenges.

Currently, it’s on the Senate’s unfinished business calendar, and officials with the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa are hoping it will stay there.

“We think this bill goes against a common sense approach that Iowa prides itself on,” said Rita Bettis, legislative director and staff attorney for the ACLU of Iowa. “We think it’s unnecessary and expensive and is going to put thousands of more Iowans’ DNA in a database every year – where it will remain after they’re dead – for low-level offenses.”

OPPOSITION

Iowa law currently requires people convicted of felonies or sex offenses to provide DNA. Those samples then are entered into a database that compares them with unidentified DNA samples taken from crime scenes, both locally and nationally.

Supporters of the proposed bill say the DNA database has been a tremendous tool in helping to solve crimes, and some other states have or are considering taking the same step – like New York and Colorado. But opponents say the bill is too broad, too expensive and too invasive for people convicted of low-level offenses.

Rita Bettis

“DNA contains the most personal information you can obtain from our bodies,” Bettis said. “The government should have a really good reason they should have that information.”

And repeat convictions for marijuana possession or drunken driving should not qualify as a good reason, Bettis said. If legislators want to add specific crimes to the list of those requiring DNA samples, they should name those crimes and focus on a limited few, according to Bettis.

“But we think this is the wrong approach,” she said.

The ACLU also is concerned about the impact this bill, if passed, could have on law enforcement-related racial disparities in Iowa.

“The passage of this bill would make that problem even more invasive, resulting in disproportionate gathering and data-banking of the genetic material of minorities in the state,” according to a press release.

And then there’s the cost. Bettis said that with legislators debating how much to spend on education and tax reform, the idea of expanding the DNA database seems frivolous.

“This is expensive for being unnecessary and an invasion of privacy,” she said.

Paul Bush, criminalist supervisor for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s DNA unit and administrator of the state’s DNA database, said passage of the bill would require the state lab to process about 5,700 additional DNA samples a year.

“That would about double the amount of offender samples we would be receiving,” Bush said. “If the bill passes, we would request additional funding and personnel to help allow with the additional samples being collected.”

Without additional resources, he said, expanded DNA sampling would create a large backlog in the state’s DNA database, delaying samples from being entered into the system and possibly delaying the resolution of some crimes.

SUPPORT

Paul Bush

But the Iowa Department of Public Safety supports passage of the bill, Bush said, because of the power the database has in helping to solve crimes.

“The more samples we get entered into the database, the more hits that will result,” he said.

DNA technology is improving all the time, making it easier to use and more common in criminal investigations. As states continue to build up their databases, more and more hits roll in, Bush said.

“Statistically, you would expect to get more hits,” he said, “and we are.”

Iowa has gotten a total of 1,245 DNA hits through the state or national databases since it began entering evidence and samples in 2002, Bush said. Those hits are criminals or crime scene evidence that found a match in the system.

Johnson County Attorney Lyness said adding DNA from individuals convicted of aggravated misdemeanors makes sense, in part, because many of those folks originally were charged with felonies and entered plea agreements to a lesser charge.

Additionally, many crimes that qualify as aggravated misdemeanors in Iowa are called felonies in other states.

“So this would put us in line with a lot of other states,” Lyness said. “And getting more evidence is always helpful.”

It’s not just useful in solving crimes, she said.

“It can exonerate people too,” Lyness said.

Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said he has been lobbying to expand the state’s DNA collection parameters “largely because many of the hard core criminals out there commit a large number of crimes and do it for their whole life.”

But, he said, some can go years or their entire life without getting convicted of a felony because of plea agreements and other factors.

Iowa City police Chief Sam Hargadine said that after seeing what the database can do – like in the Matthews investigation – he fully supports expanding the database.

“I see it as the same as a fingerprint,” Hargadine said.

Some of the amendments that have been proposed for the bill include excluding individuals convicted of aggravated misdemeanors who receive deferred sentences or excluding specific crimes.

But Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, who is sponsoring the legislation, said those aberrations are “unacceptable” and that the bill he proposed is very bipartisan.

“It’s a tremendous tool for law enforcement to convict the bad guys and eliminate the innocent as suspects,” he said.

Attorney Thomas Gaul has a word with Justin Marshall at the sentencing of Justin Marshall for the first degree murder of John Versypt at the Johnson County Courthouse on Friday. (Kaitlyn Bernauer/The Gazette).

Moments before being sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, Justin Marshall looked into the eyes of the family of John Versypt and said he did not kill their husband, father and brother.

“I am innocent,” Marshall said during his sentencing hearing Friday. “I don’t know who did this, who did such a horrific act to someone else … and I’m sorry for your guys’ loss.”

But, he repeated, he’s innocent.

Turning back to Johnson County District Court Judge Sean McPartland, Marshall received his inevitable life sentence in prison. His attorney, Thomas Gaul, did not make any statements on his behalf as state law mandates a life term for a first-degree murder conviction.

Immediately after Marshall’s sentencing hearing, one of his two co-defendants, Courtney White, 25, pleaded guilty to tampering with witnesses or jurors. That means his first-degree murder charge will be dropped and he will be released from jail pending paperwork with an old probation violation.

White has been in jail on the murder charge for about 18 months, and court documents indicate that the amount of time he has served exceeds the amount of time he would have spent in prison on the tampering charge.

According to new trial information filed Friday on White’s case, he “called an individual who had provided a statement to police about John Versypt’s death and told her that if his name got brought up that he was going to have to ‘(expletive) someone up.’”

Charles Thompson, 20, was the first person arrested on murder charges in the shooting, but his case ended in a mistrial, and he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to time served earlier this year.

Marshall was convicted Feb. 6 of first-degree murder after police said he attempted to rob Versypt on Oct. 8, 2009, and ended up shooting him in the hand and the head. Versypt was a landlord in the Broadway Condominium complex and was hanging no-smoking and no-loitering signs when he was killed, according to police.

Before Marshall was sentenced Friday, Versypt’s wife Janet Versypt spoke of the pain she has endured in the loss of her “husband, best friend and favorite travel companion.”

“He was a hard worker, and a great landlord, as he tried to help others have a safe and comfortable home,” Janet Versypt said. “I am so mad he was killed trying to keep others safe.”

Since his death, Janet Versypt said her husband has missed his son’s wedding and graduation, and the birth of his first grandchild. He has another one due at the end of May, she said.

“He would have been a great grandpa,” she said.

In a statement from John Versypt’s daughter, Jennifer Wakefield, she talked about the hole left in her life.

“I am so heartbroken that my children will never know how wonderful their grandpa is,” she said. “I will never get to see him melt as he holds his newborn granddaughter.”

Wakefield said her father’s death was a senseless tragedy and now, perhaps, Marshall will “begin to know what loss is.”

“I hope that his heart breaks when he realizes he will not get to spend time with his children,” she said. “My heart at times breaks for him. He did not just end my father’s life, he gave up his too.”

Marshall’s attorney requested a new trial in the case, saying the judge gave an erroneous jury instruction that resulted in the guilty conviction. A judge on Thursday denied that request, but Marshall is allowed to appeal his conviction and sentence.

During Marshall’s trial, prosecutors said the suspect admitted to three inmates in the Muscatine County Jail that he was the gunman and that he killed Versypt in a robbery gone wrong. Other witnesses corroborated facts that Marshall confessed to while in jail, according to prosecutors.

But his defense team argued that authorities collected almost no physical evidence against Marshall and that the jailhouse witnesses could have been lying to get time off their sentences.

Treasa Swailes, who has a grandchild fathered by Marshall, said she doesn’t think prosecutors proved Marshall’s involvement and believes he’s innocent. She said she’s hopeful he’ll one day be freed.

“We’re sorry for their loss and we hope someday that Iowa City’s finest will find the shooter so they can have peace,” Swailes said.

Janet Versypt said it was painful to hear Marshall pronounce his innocence.

“It kind of broke my heart,” she said. “A jury of his peers said he was guilty and showed he was guilty … and it did hurt very much when he said that.”

Justin Marshall talks with his attorney Thomas Gaul after the jury exited to begin their deliberations following closing arguments in his first-degree murder trial at the Johnson County Courthouse on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013 in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

The only suspect of three so far to be convicted of first-degree murder in the 2009 shooting death of John Versypt in Iowa City will not get a new trial.

That means Justin Marshall, 22, still is set to be sentenced Friday to life in prison for his role in the robbery-gone-wrong that shook the community and remained unresolved for years.

Marshall was convicted Feb. 6 of first-degree murder after police said he attempted to rob Versypt on Oct. 8, 2009, and ended up shooting him in the hand and in the head. Veryspt, according to police, was a landlord for units in the Broadway Condominium complex in Iowa City and was hanging no-smoking and no-loitering signs when he was killed.

Charles Thompson, 20, was the first person arrested and tried on first-degree murder charges, but his case ended in a mistrial and he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Marshall was the second person arrested, followed by Courtney White, 25, whose case is pending but appears to be headed toward a plea deal.

Marshall’s defense attorneys filed a motion requesting a new trial based on a controversial jury instruction. During the trial, Marshall’s attorneys objected to the judge reading the first-degree murder theories of aiding and abetting and joint criminal conduct to jurors during jury instructions.

They argued that jurors should not be allowed to convict on those theories because prosecutors hadn’t presented evidence that Marshall worked in concert with anyone else.

Judge Sean McPartland disagreed and read the instructions anyway. Following a hearing earlier this week on Marshall’s request for a new trial, McPartland again disagreed that the jury instruction was erroneous and denied Marshall’s motion “in its entirety.”

Wendy Smoker. (image via University of Iowa's Web site)

The Iowa Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded a disciplinary action taken by the Iowa Board of Medicine against a University of Iowa radiology professor cited for excessive use of alcohol.

That ruling, made this week, means the disciplinary action levied against Wendy R. K. Smoker in January 2011 and affirmed by a district court judge in July 2012 will be dismissed, according to the appellate court’s ruling.

“Upon our review of the record as a whole, there is no substantial evidence of Dr. Smoker’s excessive use of alcohol which may impair her ability to practice medicine,” according to the written ruling.

Smoker was cited in January 2011 for excessive use of alcohol that could impair her ability to practice medicine and fined $5,000. Smoker also was given five years probation, requiring her to participate in monitoring, drug screening, substance abuse meetings, therapy and quarterly reports.

The board handed down those penalties even after saying during a disciplinary hearing that there “is no evidence Dr. Smoker has consumed alcohol or been impaired while working, but she would become a danger to the public and her patients if she resumes actively drinking… .”

The board based that decision on the fact that Smoker is an admitted and diagnosed alcoholic and that she relapsed on two occasions in September 2009.

In the Court of Appeals’ ruling remanding and reversing the disciplinary action, it questions from the outset the propriety of the investigation conducted by the Board of Medicine’s chief investigator in response to a complaint against Smoker.

“Normally, the board investigates claims brought against physicians by interviewing the accused physician, witnesses, colleagues, and the complainant in order to determine whether the allegations are founded,” according to the appellate court’s ruling. “In this case, however, no interviews were conducted.”

Instead, the investigative report submitted to the board was comprised of an “executive summary,” which the chief investigator said he didn’t review.

The Court of Appeals found that “a reasonable mind would find the facts and circumstances presented in this proceeding to be inadequate to reach the conclusion reached by the board.”

Smoker started as an intern with the UI’s radiology department in 1977 and officially joined the staff in 2001. She still is employed with the university, and her title is professor of radiology, neurosurgery and neurology, according to UI spokesman Tom Moore.

The charge that led to this week’s appellate court ruling originally was filed in June 2010. But on July 26, 2012, the board filed new charges against Smoker for her failure to pay on time the fine associated with the first charge and for drinking alcohol while on vacation in another country – a violation of her probation.

Even though the newer alleged violations relate to the first charge, which has now been dismissed, Iowa Board of Medicine Executive Director Mark Bowden said that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be dropped as well.

“They are separate and distinct, although related,” Bowden said. “The board is going to have to review this decision and determine with the Attorney General’s Office what the next step is on this – or whether there is a next step.”

Bowden said he can’t comment on whether the board will address the appellate court’s criticisms of its investigative process.

Formerly a Sonic restaurant, this building at 604 2nd Street in Coralville will soon be made into a Dunkin Donuts. (Amanda Swinhart/The Gazette)

Construction on a new Dunkin’ Donuts in Coralville has begun, and developers are interviewing prospective employees for the doughnut chain’s new location.

Crews began work last week to transform the former Sonic drive-in restaurant at 604 Second St. into a new Dunkin’ Donuts, according to Carrie Reckert, spokeswoman for Dunkin’ Donuts Midwest.

The restaurant, which is owned by Eastern Iowa Food Service LLC, is expected to open this summer and is interviewing job candidates, according to Reckert. Those positions include shift manager and crew members.

Eastern Iowa Food Service is a subsidiary of Reif Oil Co., which is based in Burlington.

According to Andrea Farley, a managing partner of Eastern Iowa Food Service, her company plans to open three new Dunkin’ Donuts this year in Eastern Iowa and a total of 12 new restaurants over the next six years.

The Sonic that previously occupied the space on the Coralville strip opened more than four years ago and closed more than a year ago, along with Sonic eateries in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo.

There are no other doughnut-dedicated restaurants in Coralville, said Coralville Building and Zoning Official Jim Kessler.

Anyone interested in working at the Dunkin’ Donuts can send a resume to andrea@eifoods.com.

“I am owed more than $15,000 in back child support,” Whitney, 44, said. “I have gone years without receiving anything.”

The Council Bluffs mother said she’s tried everything — including asking the Iowa Department of Human Services’ Child Support Recovery Unit for help. But the unit hasn’t produced the missing dollars like she hoped it would.

She has received periodic payments over the years — when her son’s father isn’t working for cash “under the table” and reporting being jobless.

“But my case just sat there for a long time untouched,” Whitney said. “They said there is a waiting period. And I waited. I think they got frustrated with me. I called once a week.”

The state’s Child Support Recovery Unit helps custodial parents receive court-ordered child support payments — some of its recoveries reimburse taxpayers for the cost of welfare. It also helps parents establish paternity and support orders, and it enforces support orders.

Only parents who apply for establishment or enforcement services, or those who are receiving or have received public assistance like welfare and Medicaid, are eligible for recovery unit services.

Collections declining

And even those who are eligible might have a lesser chance of receiving what they’re owed than in the past. Since the 2008 recession, the unit has seen its collections decline, said Carol Eaton, bureau chief for the state’s Child Support Recovery Unit.

The declines largely are because to economic woes that have meant budget and staff reductions for the unit. The economy also has forced more parents who owe money to lose their jobs or accept less pay, decreasing how much the state can collect, Eaton said.

Even though the unit can take mandatory child support payments from unemployment benefits, a growing number of benefits are expiring, Eaton said.

In the 2010 budget year, the unit collected $27.1 million from unemployment benefits. That dropped to $14.7 million in 2012.

“And that is going to continue going down as people go off unemployment,” she said. “But they are not working.”

Total child support collections for the unit have dropped from about $351 million in the 2009 budget year to just over $332 million in the 2012 budget year. The declines are projected to continue, dropping to below $330 million for the current budget year and in the 2014 and 2015 budget years.

Still, the federal government ranks Iowa fourth in the nation in its efficiency collecting child support. It collects about 73 percent of child support in the month its due, and it collects almost $6 for every public dollar spent on the collection effort.

Hard to collect

The Child Support Recovery Unit operates 22 field offices, including one in Cedar Rapids. But staffing within the unit has been cut since the 2008 budget year, Eaton said.

The unit counted 620 full time employees that year, compared to the 478 workers making collections for the state right now. And the employees who remain don’t have an easy task, Eaton said.

They have to find people who can be hard to track down and sometimes don’t want to be located, according to Eaton. They have to work with employers and other state agencies.

“There is a population that thrives on staying a step ahead of us,” she said. “Some people are paid in cash on purpose.”

There also is a population that is difficult to collect from once they are found — like those serving time in prison.

“We’ll collect pennies on a dollar because their wages are so small,” she said.

In March, the state’s recovery unit counted 4,437 people serving time in prison who owed child support, according to Roger Munns, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services.

Of that total, just 1,357 paid something toward their child support dues, Munns said. Some of the inmates who didn’t pay owed on older children, making them harder to collect from, Munns said. Or, perhaps, they didn’t make any money.

Fred Scaletta, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections, said many inmates receive a payment or allowance for various jobs within the facility — maintenance or laundry or kitchen work. He said the prison deducts 50 percent of an inmate’s pay if there is a child support order in place.

According to Department of Corrections statistics, $349,651 in child support was collected from Iowa prison inmates in the 2012 budget year. That’s down from $356,221 in the 2011 budget year and $374,484 in the 2010 budget year.

Scaletta said that decline in prison collections is due largely to a drop in the overall inmate population.

Julie Gilmere, a North Liberty-based attorney who focuses on child support collection, says some of the parents who fail to receive much help from the state end up in her office. And, in recent years, that traffic has increased.

“I have four to six people calling a week who want issues resolved and have no funds,” said Gilmere, of Gilmere Law Office. “I could take 20 cases a month, if I wanted. But you can’t do that many.”

Gilmere said, from her perspective, that staffing cuts at the state have hurt both people trying to receive payments and those trying to make them. And Gilmere said she doesn’t see the situation easing any time soon.

Not only is the economy making it more difficult to collect child support, but she said economic issues are at the heart of many divorces — laying the ground work for more child support orders.

“It really is the most active I’ve seen it over the years,” she said. “This is the most I’ve seen of really desperate people trying to fix things.”

Tristan Loughran

The investigation into an Iowa City daycare worker accused of sexually assaulting a toddler at an Iowa City day care began after the man acted “uncomfortable” during a polygraph examination for a state peace officer job, court records state.

Tristan A. Loughran, 21, faces a charge of second-degree sexual abuse, a class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. He left the Johnson County Jail after posting a $25,000 cash or surety bond following his arrest last week. He’s been ordered not to be around any children under age 16, court records show.

A special agent with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation discovered the possible sexual abuse on April 1 while conducting a pre-employment polygraph on Loughran as part of the Iowa Department of Public Safety applicant process.

Loughran was among 400 people who applied to join the state’s peace officer academy at the end of last year, according to Jessica Lown, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Public Safety.  A lengthy criminal background investigation, including a polygraph test, is part of the background test, Lown said. The department does not disclose details about where individuals stand in the application process, she said.

The special agent conducting Loughran’s polygraph examination reported Loughran appeared “uncomfortable” when discussing his day care job, a search warrant filed in Johnson County District Court states.  When pressed by the agent, Loughran admitted that he had sexual contact with a 2-year-old one month earlier, the search warrant states.

Loughran indicated that his intentions of the contact with the child were sexual, the warrant states.

“I pushed Loughran for more admissions, but he would not make any more admissions to me,” the investigator wrote in the report.

Loughran has worked for Enchanted Neighborhood Day Care and Preschool, 263 Scott Ct., on and off since 2007, the warrant states. There is no indication in court records that day care staff had any prior knowledge of the incident Loughran allegedly told investigators about.

Following the interview, the special agent forwarded information from his polygraph examination to the Iowa City Police Department, which began its own investigation, records show. When interviewed by Iowa City detectives, Loughran again admitted to committing a sex act on the same toddler, according to an Iowa City criminal complaint.

Investigators have identified the victim who Loughran named, and they confirmed that he had access to her and was, at times, alone with her, court records state. Investigators also learned that the toddler showed signs of having been sexually abused around the time Loughran said the abuse occurred.

Iowa City police Lt. Doug Hart said investigators forwarded the information about Loughran’s arrest to the Iowa Department of Human Services, which will conduct its own investigation of the complaint. Investigators do not believe there are other victims related to this case.

The state department must notify parents of children at any regulated childcare business where a founded abuse assessment has been made, said Roger Munns, department spokesman. But those assessments can take time – by law they must be completed within 20 days – and Munns said the department encourages providers to do a separate notification to keep parents up to date.

It’s unknown whether the center, which had about 80 children enrolled during the last routine state inspection in December, has made its own notification to parents.  Officials at the day care have not responded to requests for comment.

According to court documents, Loughran lives in Coralville, and his mother is Alicia Loughran. A woman named Alicia Loughran was listed as the contact person on the Enchanted Neighborhood day care center’s web page — although that site was taken down this week. Alicia Loughran also is named as the center’s director by the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Tristan Loughran, who was known as Tristan Tjarks until legally changing his name last year, does not have a significant criminal history in Iowa, according to online court records.

Justin Marshall mouths something to his family members after the verdict was read in his first-degree murder trial Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013 at the Johnson County Courthouse in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

A Johnson County judge said today that he will decide before Friday — when Justin Marshall is supposed to be sentenced in the first-degree murder of John Versypt — whether he instead should get a new trial.

Attorneys convened this afternoon in a Johnson County courtroom to discuss the first-degree murder conviction levied against Marshall on Feb. 6 and whether that conviction should stand.

“We believe you should grant him a new trial because the weight of the evidence shows Marshall wasn’t guilty as an aider or abettor or of joint criminal conduct,” his attorney Thomas Gaul told Judge Sean McPartland.

During Marshall’s trial, defense attorneys objected to the judge reading the theories of aiding and abetting and joint criminal conduct to jurors during jury instructions. Gaul, at the time, argued that prosecutors had not presented evidence that Marshall had worked in concert with anyone else

McPartland, however, disagreed and read the instructions to jurors. After the verdict, jurors were polled on which theory they chose in coming to a first-degree murder verdict, and all but one juror convicted on the theory of aiding and abetting.

They could have convicted on several different theories, but they did not have to agree on the theory to come to a unanimous guilty verdict.

Gaul on Monday argued that, if anything, more evidence was presented at trial showing Marshall was the principal shooter – not someone who aided and abetted someone else.

“Who is the principal and who are the aiders and abettors?” Gaul asked. “The guilty might be equal, but the role they played is what the court should focus on.”

McPartland asked the attorneys whether they believed the theories of aiding and abetting and being the principal actor in a crime are mutually exclusive.

“If you are involved in joint criminal conduct, does that mean you have to have not been the shooter?” he asked. “Or can you be the shooter and be involved in joint criminal conduct?”

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness argued that a person can be both.

“A jury can decide if he was the principal involved or if he was aiding and abetting,” she said, “as long as he was there.”

Marshall faces a sentence of life in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday.

Marshall was one of three people arrested in connection with the Oct. 8, 2009, shooting death of Versypt in south Iowa City. Versypt, according to police, was a landlord for units in the Broadway Condominium complex when he was gunned down.

He was hanging no smoking and no loitering signs when he was held up during an attempted robbery and then shot through the hand and the head, according to police.

Charles Thompson was the first person tried on first-degree murder charges, but his case ended in a mistrial and he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Courtney White also was arrested in the shooting, but attorneys have indicated his case might end in a plea agreement.

During Marshall’s trial, prosecutors said the suspect admitted to three inmates in the Muscatine County Jail that he was the gunman and that he killed Versypt in a robbery gone wrong. Other witnesses corroborated facts that Marshall confessed to while in jail, according to prosecutors.

But his defense team argued that authorities collected almost no physical evidence against Marshall and that the jailhouse witnesses could have been lying to get time off their sentences.

Acting North Liberty police chief Diane Venenga (left) answers questions during a news conference about the March shooting incident where three New Liberty officers were injured in the shooting death of Taleb Salameh on March 10 at the Johnson County Sheriff's Department on Friday, April 19, 2013, in Iowa City, Iowa. Also pictured are Johnson County attorney Janet Lyness, Bill Kietzman, special agent in charge for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

The three North Liberty police officers involved in a fatal shootout with a University of Iowa graduate student last month did not see it coming.

The officers had been called to the Holiday Mobile Home Court just before 6 p.m. March 10 about a domestic disturbance, and they did not have their weapons drawn when Taleb Salameh, 28, starting firing at them, Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said Friday.

During a news conference at which Lyness announced the officers will not face criminal charges in the shooting that left Salameh dead, she said one officer tried to kick down Salameh’s door moments before he opened fire at them through it.

“The officers involved are very lucky to be alive,” Lyness said.

She identified the involved officers as Sgt. Adam Olson and officers Chris Shine and Cody Jacobsen. All three were struck by bullets during the shooting, and Lyness said the bullet-proof vests they were wearing saved their lives.

After Salameh opened fire on the officers from behind a closed door, Lyness said, the officers returned fire. But only one of the officers’ bullets hit Salameh, killing him, according to Lyness. She didn’t identify which officer fired the fatal shots, but she said none of the officers will face charges.

“The officers acted with reasonable force in returning fire after being shot and shots continuing to be fired at them,” Lyness said. “They had no lesser course of action available to them.”

In new details released about the shooting, Lyness said, North Liberty police received a call to the home at 5:51 p.m. March 10 from a person who had witnessed Salameh and his girlfriend fighting. The caller reported seeing them drive away in separate vehicles and then return quickly, at which point Salameh began jumping on the woman’s vehicle while yelling at her, according to Lyness.

The three North Liberty officers arrived at 238 Holiday Lodge Road at 5:53 p.m. and found the woman standing on a ramp that led to the trailer’s front door, Lyness said.

She was crying and said she just wanted to get her belongings, according to Lyness. Her face was red, and she appeared to have been injured, Lyness said. The officers asked the woman about weapons in the home, and she told them she thought Salameh had removed a gun earlier that day.

Taleb Hussein Yousef Salameh

The woman also told officers Salameh was in the home alone, and so they approached the front door and knocked, according to Lyness. They looked in through a window and saw Salameh by the front door. Lyness said they directed him to open it, but he told the officers to talk to him through the door.

One officer pulled out his Taser, Lyness said, although no firearms were drawn at this point. The authorities again told Salameh to open the door or they would kick it in, but Lyness said Salameh didn’t comply.

One of the officers tried to kick in the door but failed, Lyness said. Salameh then shouted, “de-escalate, de-escalate” and could be seen running to the rear of the trailer before firing four shots through the door, according to Lyness.

An officer was hit on the left side of his chest and another was hit in his abdomen, Lyness said. Vests stopped both bullets from penetrating, Lyness said, and one of the officers backed down the ramp as he drew his weapon. The others leaned into a corner of the home’s front deck.

“They could feel the air from the bullets going past them,” she said.

During the shooting, the door opened and the officer who earlier had pulled his Taser saw Salameh and tried to hit him with the non-lethal device, Lyness said. But Salameh reportedly continued to shoot at the officers.

Eventually, an officer eyed Salameh from the home’s deck and fired multiple shots, hitting Salameh. The officer wasn’t confident, however, that he had killed the suspect, Lyness said, so the Johnson County Bomb Squad sent in a robot to find the body.

The officer who shot and killed Salameh was grazed by bullet on his chest and suffered shrapnel wounds to his hand. He is still receiving treatment, Lyness said.

An autopsy performed on Salameh revealed he had been struck seven times and died from those injuries. The Johnson County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet ruled on a cause and manner of death as the autopsy report is still being completed, Lyness said.

The woman involved in the dispute with Salameh told authorities that they have a child together and they moved into the mobile home in January, where they were living with two children.

On the day of the shooting, the woman said she was trying to move out and was getting more belongings when the argument erupted. Officers had been to the home several times in the last month, and Officer Shine had been there in the last two weeks, Lyness said.

According to the investigation, Salameh fired 10 shots at officers and hit them twice before they drew fire arms. Lyness said less than 20 seconds passed between the first and last shots, and officers later found more rounds of ammunition on the couch.

“The officers never entered the residence,” Lyness said. “Salameh fired all shots from within the residence.”

None of the officers investigated in this incident have been involved in previous on-duty shootings, said North Liberty Acting Police Chief Diane Venenga.

Olson, 34, is the most tenured of the three and has been with the department for 10 years and has been a sergeant for five years. Shine, 26, has been with the department for two years and has two years of experience before that, Venenga said. And Jacobsen, 26, joined the department in January 2012.

Venenga said the department is eager to have the officers back from paid administrative leave, but she said it’s going to take some time until “they are comfortable” doing so.

“It was a very difficult and tragic event for the officers to be involved in,” she said. “They have some concerns coming back to work, as well as their family.”

Venenga said her department is going to conduct an additional internal review of the incident and look at its policies, procedures, training and equipment to make sure “we have in place the best practices.”

“We are very fortunate that three officers were not killed or severely injured,” she said.

Lyness said the shots delivered by Salameh easily could have been fatal and that all local agencies are going to review policies to make sure they are protected in situations like this one.

“I don’t think anyone expected it to end this way when they were called out,” she said.

Tristan Loughran

Investigators have confirmed that a 21-year-old Coralville man arrested Thursday on suspicion of sexually abusing a toddler is accused of doing so at the daycare where he worked.

Tristan Alexander Loughran faces a charge of felony second-degree sexual abuse after he admitted to an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent that he committing a sex act on a 2-year-old girl sometime in February or March, according to a criminal complaint.

The incident allegedly took place in Iowa City at Loughran’s place of work, police reported. Iowa City Lt. Doug Hart confirmed Friday morning that Loughran worked at a daycare, although Hart didn’t immediately release the name of the daycare.

After the DCI turned over the investigation to Iowa City police, Loughran admitted again to local investigators that he committed a sex act on the toddler, according to the criminal complaint.

Hart said police don’t believe there are other victims.

Police have identified the victim and confirmed that Loughran had access to her and was, at times, alone with her, according to the complaint. Investigators also learned that the toddler showed signs of having been sexual abused around the time Loughran said the abuse occurred.

Loughran doesn’t have a significant criminal history in Iowa. He did change his name last year from Tristan Tjarks to Tristan Loughran, according to online court records.

He left the Johnson County Jail this morning after posting a $25,000 cash or surety bond.

Roger Munns, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Human Services, said he office isn’t discussing specific people or daycare facilities. But, he said, the department “will take appropriate action to assure the safety of children when there are reports of abuse at a child care business.”

Among its options, Munns said, is to immediately assure that the accused person has no access to children.

Officers on the scene after a shooting at the Holiday Lodge Mobile Home Park in North Liberty turned into a standoff on the evening of March 10, 2013. (Mark Carlson/The Gazette-KCRG9)

Nearly six weeks after a man died and three officers were injured in a shooting in North Liberty, Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness has called a press conference to release more information about the fatal encounter.

Lyness this afternoon announced that her office will release more details about the March 10 shooting at 1:30 p.m. Friday. She will be joined by Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek and Bill Kietzman, special agent in charge for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

The three North Liberty police officers involved in the shooting have been on paid administrative leave since the incident. That has the local department – which lists 17 officers on its website, including acting chief Diane Venenga, two sergeants and an investigator – a bit short-staffed.

Venenga, a former lieutenant with the department, was promoted in February after former chief Jim Warkentin stepped down.  The city has not yet filled the chief position, meaning the department has been down four people since the March 10 shooting.

Officers responded to a mobile home at 238 Holiday Lodge Road about 6 p.m. that day in response to a 911 call domestic disturbance call, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. Shortly after arriving, officers exchanged gunfire with Taleb Salameh, 28, who died at the scene, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The three officers involved in the exchange – who have not yet been identified – were struck bullets and taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. They were treated and released for non-life threatening injuries, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Details of who fired a weapon and how the incident escalated have not yet been made public. A cause and manner of Salameh’s death has not been released.

Kietzman, whose agency led the investigation, told the Gazette that they handed over their findings to the county attorney’s office in late March. He said every officer-involved shooting is different and can take varying degrees of time to investigate and resolve.

Nicholas Garner (Johnson County Sheriff's Office)

Iowa City police Thursday are continuing to look for one of two men accused of entering a Linn Street apartment Wednesday afternoon and demanding money at gunpoint.

Officers arrested one of the suspects who they believe were involved. Nicholas Crews Garner, 19, of North Liberty, faces charges of going armed with intent, assault while participating in a felony, first-degree burglary and first-degree robbery, all felonies.

He was being held Thursday morning in the Johnson County Jail in lieu of a $120,000 bond.

Iowa City police responded at 4:11 p.m. Wednesday to a report of a robbery at an apartment at 221 N. Linn St., according to a criminal complaint. Upon arrival, they learned that two men entered the unit without permission, and an unknown suspect showed a handgun while both he and Garner allegedly demanded money and asked where other belongings were located, according to the complaint.

One of the victims confronted Garner, who was wearing a mask, and an altercation ensued, according to the police. The unknown suspect eventually joined in, police reported, and he’s accused of hitting the victim several times on the head with a pistol.

The victim suffered a laceration to his head and hand, according to police. During the fight, the victim told officers that he managed to pull off Garner’s mask. The victim recognized Garner as someone he knows, and he identified him by name to authorities, according to a complaint.

Garner and the other suspect are accused of stealing a backpack, shoes, cell phones and wallets, according to police. They fled the area with an undisclosed amount of money, police reported.

Garner was caught later in the evening and booked into the Johnson County Jail about 11 p.m., according to online records. His co-defendant remains at large.

Garner’s criminal history in Iowa includes convictions for a felony drug violation and a drunken driving charge last year. He was arrested last week on suspicion of driving with a revoked license.

He also has numerous juvenile charges, including theft, unauthorized use of a credit card, and drug and alcohol charges.

Anyone with information about the robbery, including the whereabouts of the handgun and the possible identity of the second suspect, can call the Iowa City Area Crime Stoppers at 319-358-8477. All callers are guaranteed anonymity, and may receive a reward.

Registered nurse Sarah Pudenz, 28, participates in a role-playing scenario with husband and wife actors Barney and Tina Conroy of Mount Vernon, Iowa, in the nursing residency program at Mercy Medical Center on Thursday, April 11, 2013, in southeast Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Conroys portrayed a brother and sister whose father is a dying patient, where Pudenz worked to comfort them. This was Pudenz's first day in the program. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Looking into the eyes of her dying patient’s children last week, Mercy Medical Center nurse Sarah Pudenz asked if they wanted to lower the bed rail and lie down next to him.

Pudenz moved the tissue box closer to them as their father neared the end of his life. She asked if she could get them anything to drink or care for them in any other way.

“That was phenomenal,” Mercy Leadership Development Coordinator Pat Bayles told Pudenz, who had just completed a training exercise challenging her to respond in an end-of-life scenario.

Pudenz is among a group of newly hired nurses at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids who started a six-month residency program last week. Mercy since 2006 has required every newly hired nurse with under a year of experience to go through the program.

Other larger hospitals in the state, like the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, also have had a nurse residency program for years, and soon every Iowa hospital could have something similar.

Expanded learning

The Iowa Action Coalition — formed a year ago to further nursing statewide based on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine — has drafted a list of goals.

The list includes getting nurse residency programs in every hospital in the state and increasing the proportion of registered nurses with at least a bachelor of science in nursing degree from 26 percent to 50 percent by 2020.

“Healthcare is in the midst of a major transformation, and the need for us to enhance the skills of providers and nurses is a big deal,” said Rita Frantz, dean of the UI College of Nursing and among the leadership for the Iowa Action Coalition.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation last month announced that the Iowa Action Coalition is one of 20 “future of nursing” groups chosen to be part of a $3 million initiative to further nursing. The initiative aims to help states prepare the nursing profession to address today’s three primary health care challenges — access, quality and cost.

Frantz said the push to use nurse residency programs statewide addresses the need for a better transition from academic preparations to actually practice — like residency programs for physicians.

About seven Iowa hospitals currently have nurse residency programs, she said, but the idea is to establish a statewide program that’s accessible to all nurse employers. So, for example, if a smaller organization doesn’t have the resources to implement its own program, it could tap the state enterprise.

“This is a way that, by creating a partnership, we can ensure that whether they’re a little hospital in Newton with 45 beds or St. Luke’s in Cedar Rapids, they can all have access to a program,” Frantz said.

UI near accreditation

The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics launched its nurse residency program in 2009, and Chief Nursing Officer Ann Williamson said about 60 to 70 new nurses populate the program at a time. The Iowa City-based hospital hires between 200 and 300 new nursing graduates a year, helping it to maintain a nursing force that’s 2,000-some strong, Williamson said.

“We saw the value in helping new graduates get a good start in their first year of employment,” she said. “It’s a significant investment on the part of the hospital, but we wanted to give us both the best chance at success.”

UIHC nurse residents are in the program for one year, and they gradually transition into their positions. For the first six to 12 weeks, Williamson said, they’re not counted in nursing staff numbers, but by the end of 90 days, most are in the mix.

On Tuesday, 50-some nurses in the residency program convened for a morning panel discussion about professional development, opportunities in the field and their future plans. They also met, as they do every month, in small groups to talk about experiences.

Williamson said nursing graduates from around the state and nation seek out hospitals with residency programs because they recognize the difference between a classroom and a hospital room and appreciate help managing the transition.

“Given the complexity of health care settings today, you don’t come out of college knowing everything you need to know to be successful in your practice,” Williamson said. “This is recognition of that year of transition from education to practice.”

The residency program helps hospitals because it increases nurse retention, which ups staff members’ experience and knowledge with each hospital’s procedures and practices.

“We are able to recruit from around the country because we have it,” Williamson said, adding that the UIHC’s program is near accreditation. “We will be one of a dozen in the country that will have an accredited program.”

Williamson said the UIHC is implementing more real-world scenarios into its residency training — like the end-of-life situation Pudenz walked through last week.

“I was really glad we did this,” said Pudenz, hired to work on the oncology floor, after trying to support the situational actors posing as children of a passing elderly man. “It was good practice.”

‘Safe atmosphere’

There are currently 92 practice sites in 30 states, including Iowa, offering yearlong residency programs, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. More than 26,000 nurses have completed the program at those sites.

Mercy’s nurse residency program lasts six months — as opposed to a year — and uses training exercises and additional support to integrate new hires into the hospital staff, said program coordinator Christa Steffens.

The residents are grouped by their start dates in hopes of building relationships and a support network, and they are trained based on technical and “soft” skills — like communication, Steffens said. In addition to simulation labs and floor assignments, nurses in the program go through debriefing sessions that allow them to talk about their experiences — good and bad, according to Steffens.

“There are a lot of positive stories of what they did well,” she said. “And there’s always a case of ‘a doctor yelled at me.’ That is normal.”

Jamie Backhaus, 25, started at Mercy in November and is nearing the end of her term in the residency program. She said the transitional period has been a big help.

“As a brand new nurse, you are going to be put into experiences you are not familiar with,” Backhaus said. “This is a relaxed and safe atmosphere for you to experience them.”

In addition to working with patients like any fully-integrated registered nurse, Backhaus has been meeting with different doctors and coordinators and discussing best and worst case scenarios.

“It’s nice to get familiar with protocols so you’re not scared,” she said, conceding that experience still is the best way to grow and improve. “I don’t know if you’re ever full prepared.”

The Mississippi River nears flood stage in Dubuque Tuesday. (Jeremy Portje/The Dubuque Telegraph Herald )

Rain is expected to soak much of Eastern Iowa for the rest of the week, raising concerns over flash flooding in the short-term and adding to the potential for more flooding later in the season.

“We have some significant rises on our land already,” said Terry Simmons, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities. “With our moist and saturated ground, all our basins are going to be very sensitive to this rain.”

The weather service already has issued flood warnings for four rivers in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois: the Wapsipinicon River near DeWitt, the Pecatonica River near Freeport, the Rock River near Joslin, and the Mainstem Mississippi River.

“We expect additional river rises around the state this week,” Simmons said. “It looks like it’s possible to get two to four inches of additional rainfall.”

According to the weather service, rain is expected to start falling in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City this morning, with the heaviest precipitation coming between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. Thursday. Totals are expected to top 3.2 inches in the corridor.

Some snow could mix with the rain on Friday, according to the weather service.

Because river levels are still well below actionable levels or flood stages, Simmons said the biggest concern with this week’s moisture is flash flooding in urban areas.

“There is the possibility that some areas will come up quite quickly,” she said.

USGS surveyor Jason McVay collects data on the flow rate of the Iowa River from the Benton Street bridge just down stream from a river gauge at the University of Iowa Hydraulics Laboratory as he tests the accuracy of the gauge in Iowa City. The U.S. Geological Survey is responsible for maintaining 160 river and stream gauges across Iowa that relay their information via satellite to the National Weather Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the USGS for use in making predictions about flooding. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

This week’s moisture won’t be enough to raise local river levels to actionable or flood stage, according to the weather service. The Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, for example, currently sits at 6.87 feet – several feet away from the 10-foot actionable level and the 12-foot flood stage.

The Iowa River in Iowa City sits at 13.8 feet, well below flood stage at 22 feet.

“But, I think with this amount of moisture coming on already saturated ground, there’s a good chance for some urban flash flooding,” Simmons said.

The three-month outlook shows Eastern Iowa receiving slightly above average precipitation, according to the weather service.

“And we still have snow melt to deal with,” Simmons said.

Still, Linn County Emergency Management Director Mike Goldberg said, his staff so far hasn’t heard anything abnormal for this time of year.

“It’s spring in Iowa,” he said. “The rains are anticipated and necessary for things to grow. We just can’t always control how it comes down.”

He said Linn County still has a long way to go before it is threatened by another major flood. Regarding flash flooding, Goldberg said, those who are in the danger zones, know it.

“They know where they live and should be aware of the possibility of those conditions,” he said. “It’s just a matter of awareness.”

Each individual community is in charge of handling its flooding, Goldberg said, and the county agency only steps in when resources dry up or extra support is needed.

“We pay attention, monitor and are aware of it,” he said. “And the communities that are susceptible to it do the same thing.”

On the positive side, recent moisture has eliminated drought concerns for Eastern Iowa. The rest of the state has not yet moved away drought status, but the weather service’s drought outlook has all of Iowa continuing to improve through the end of June.

The outlook shows improvement in much of Minnesota and Michigan as well. For South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, the weather service predicts the drought will mostly continue, with some improvement.

Alexis Kuberski (Johnson County Sheriff's Office)

An Iowa City man was arrested early Monday after police were called on a report that he was shaking a baby in the middle of a street.

Officers responded to the 1400 block of Plum Street at 3:21 a.m. and made contact with Alexis Stephan Kuberski, 32, on a public sidewalk, according to a criminal complaint. Kuberski appeared to be under the influence of alcohol, and officers discovered he has at least three prior convictions for public intoxication since 2011.

Upon further investigation, officers learned that Kuberski had gotten into a fight with the mother of his infant child before he was seen with the baby in the street. The woman told police that Kuberski had broken down the door to the room she was in and grabbed her by the arm, according to the complaint.

Kuberski is then accused of dragging the woman down the hallway while she was holding the infant, police reported. When officers arrived, they saw Kuberski trying to pull the baby away from the mother and yelling at her, according to the complaint.

Kuberski is accused of carrying the infant in a baby carrier outside the house and walking away while the mother tried to ensure the baby’s safety, police reported. The child was not restrained as Kuberski carried the baby, according to the complaint, but the infant did not suffer any injuries.

After Kuberski was placed into handcuffs, he tried to slip them off and then resisted officers, the complaint said.

He faces charges of first-degree harassment, fifth-degree criminal mischief, child endangerment without injury, domestic abuse assault, habitual alcohol violation and interference with official acts.

Kuberski remained at the Johnson County Jail on Monday morning.

David Doornink (Johnson County Sheriff's Office)

An Oxford man has been arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment after admitting he hit his infant in the head while “attempting to swat a fly.”

David Wayne Doornink, 21, was taking care of his infant child at 1813 Lower Old Highway 6 NW Lot 70 in Oxford on Nov. 25 while the child’s mother was at work, according to a criminal complaint. Doornink is accused of hitting the child on the head while he was watching him, although he initially denied knowing what caused the injury when the mother came home and saw bruising, deputies reported.

The next day, the mother forwarded photos of the child’s developing bruising to a grandparent, who reported the injury to the Iowa Department of Human Services, according to the complaint. Before a DHS worker and sheriff’s deputy arrived, the infant’s mother confronted Doornink about the injury again.

“At that time, the defendant admitting to striking the child but said he had been attempting to swat a fly and missed,” according to the complaint.

Upon their arrival, the DHS worker and sheriff’s deputy had the child transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where an examination revealed the infant had a hand-shaped bruise on the left side of his head.

Physicians also discovered the child had a hemorrhagic contusion in its brain on the same side as the bruise, according to the complaint. In a subsequent interview, Doornink admitted to hitting the infant with his hand, deputies reported.

According to the Mayo Clinic, hemorrhagic contusions qualify as traumatic brain injuries.

Doornink was arrested Wednesday morning, and is being held in the Johnson County Jail in lieu of a $7,500 bond. He faces a charge of child endangerment causing bodily injury, a class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

His criminal history in Iowa includes numerous convictions for alcohol and drug charges. He also was convicted of criminal mischief last year in Johnson County.

Physician assistant Abbie Port checks the ears of Christina Suarez of Cedar Rapids during an exam at Northridge Family Medicine in Hiawatha in January 2012. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Iowa has more non-elderly residents obtaining health insurance through an employer than the nation as a whole, but those numbers are dropping, according to new industry report.

In 1999 and 2000, 1.92 million non-elderly Iowans — or 78.7 percent — were getting health insurance through an employer, according to a State Health Access Data Assistance Center report made public today. A decade later, in 2010 and 2011, 1.78 million non-elderly Iowans — or 68 percent — were getting insurance that way, according to the report that uses U.S. Census Bureau data.

When compared with many of the other states, Iowa has seen one of the bigger declines — with 10.7 percent fewer people getting coverage through their employers, the report shows.

“It is something that is a concern because, in a state where this has been such a strong pillar, you want to understand what’s going on,” said Julie Sonier, deputy director of the data assistance center, which is based at the University of Minnesota.

Reasons for decline

Several factors are at play, Sonier said. There have been declines in overall employment, drops in the percentage of employers offering health insurance and decreases in the percentage of workers employed at establishments offering coverage, according to Sonier and the report.

There also are fewer eligible employees taking up employer coverage offers and fewer people enrolled in employee health insurance plans as dependents, the report indicates.

“In Iowa, as is the case across the nation, we have seen increases in the number of people with public coverage,” Sonier said. “We also have seen a rise in people who are uninsured.”

The State Health Access Data Assistance Center is an independent health policy research center that helps states collect and use data for healthy policy.

The center’s report comes as the nation prepares for much of the Affordable Care Act to take effect in 2014. That measure will expand Medicaid and provide subsidies for the purchase of private coverage through health insurance exchanges.

The report indicates that most non-elderly Americans will continue to receive health insurance coverage through an employer — even after the Act takes effect. But reviewing the recent trend away from employer coverage is important in analyzing potential impacts, officials said.

“At the state level, it has an impact on the state budget,” Sonier said. “It’s a good thing for people to have private coverage rather than public coverage. Public coverage is intended for people who don’t have access to employee coverage.”

A rise in people choosing to go without insurance all together is a big concern in that they tend to avoid regular checkups and then access costly care later.

“Those costs are eventually passed on to people who do have coverage in the form of higher premiums,” Sonier said.

In Iowa, the average annual employer-sponsored insurance premium for individuals increased from $2,370 in 2000 to $4,591 in 2011. That’s a 93 percent increase and still the fifth lowest average single policy rate in the nation.

The rising cost of health insurance is one reason more employers are wavering on whether to continue offering coverage plans to employees, Sonier said.

Hard on businesses

Gary Ficken, owner of Bimm Ridder Sportswear, Inc., in Cedar Rapids, said he weighs the pros and cons of continuing his employee health insurance offerings every year.

“From a small business standpoint, my top troubling item would be the health care costs — no doubt about it,” Ficken said. “It’s not uncommon for a small business to see yearly increases of 20 percent.”

Ficken said he has to figure out how much of the insurance increases his business can absorb and how much to pass on to his 18 employees. He also has the option of offering workers plans that are less “rich.”

Bimm Ridder still is offering employees health insurance, and its employees — for the most part — still are taking advantage of it.

But, Ficken said, he learned Wednesday that his health insurance provider plans to charge Bimm Ridder an extra $5,400 in 2014 to help pay for the Affordable Care Act. That’s not an insignificant amount, Ficken said.

“If it’s $5,400 a year for us, think of what it is for Rockwell,” he said.

Counselors in training, (from left) 16-year-old Alexis Cram of Bellevue, 16-year-old Kailyn Miller of Asbury and 15-year-old Elissa Smith of Dubuque use ropes to try to get a ball back into a trash can during a team building exercise at the Girl Scouts' Camp Little Cloud near Epworth on Tuesday, July 19, 2011. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

After outspoken critics prompted the local Girl Scouts last month to back off a proposal to sell all of its camp properties, a council committee this week has made public a new recommendation that opponents say isn’t much better.

“The public perception seems to be that this new recommendation will save the camps and is a big win for those who have worked for that cause,” according to a news release from the opposition group, Save our Scout Camps. “In reality, the new recommendation outlines dramatic changes and includes the probability that a majority of the camp properties will be sold.”

The new recommendation, which is scheduled for a Thursday vote by the Board of Directors for the Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois, suggests redeveloping and upgrading one of its four existing camps – Camp Conestoga in New Liberty, north of the Quad Cities and within 65 miles of 75 percent of the members.

Redevelopment would begin in the fall with an estimated completion date of 2015, according to the recommendation. After the project is complete, Conestoga land that is not needed will be sold, according to the council’s property committee.

Plans for the new camp “should include modern and rustic elements, as well as buildings equipped for year-round use,” according to the recommendation.

“Our new (camp) should meet the program and outdoor educational needs of today’s and tomorrow’s girls,” according to the proposal. “A task force of girls and volunteers from (the council) will be asked to participate in the designing, naming and planning of this project.”

Camp for this summer will continue as scheduled, meaning resident camp will occur at Camp Conestoga and Camp Little Cloud in Epworth. Camp Tahigwa, in Allamakee County, and Camp L-Kee-Ta, in Danville, both will offer a variety of other programs for girls.

While Conestoga is being redeveloped, Camp Little Cloud will serve as an interim residence camp, according to the council’s proposal. The other camps will continue to provide a space for troop events and other activities.

Those “outdoor program centers” will be supported by volunteers and part-time staff, who will be responsible for providing program and maintenance needs, according to the recommendation.

“When the specific land and facility needs for these properties have been determined, and the new resident camp project build out schedule has also been finalized, land which is not needed for these outdoor program centers will be divested,” according to the committee’s recommendation.

The new proposal is based on opposition to the original proposal to sell all four camp properties and rebuild one new center that could meet all the girls’ needs.

Opponents said the council was making an ill-considered decision based on finances, and they pleaded with the board – and took legal action – to keep them from voting to shutter the camps.

“Our members clearly communicated that they, as volunteers, want the opportunity to raise funds to support local traditional camping opportunities; support, market and lead local year round programming for girls, and mentor leaders and girls in camp traditions,” according to the new proposal.

Still, opponents are not happy with the new recommendations.

According to the opposition’s news release, they believe the new recommendation still leaves most camps in jeopardy, fails to define a vision and financial plan for the new modern central camp, and doesn’t identify criteria for “unutilized land” that could be sold.

The group also is concerned that the proposal doesn’t allow the members to vote on the potential sale of any properties and doesn’t explore alternatives to selling unused land.

“Furthermore, they worry that the proposal lacks a strong commitment to traditional, rustic camping as a central component of Girl Scouting,” according to the release.

In response to the new recommendations, the group is preparing its own proposal to work with the council on its camping program. Among its suggestions, the proposal will include ways to improve camp planning and marketing strategies, work with new volunteers, and implement fundraising efforts.

The opposition group filed an injunction to keep the board from voting on the original proposal, and they filed a lawsuit to make it possible to vote on the sale of camp property.

They withdrew their injunction when the board decided not to vote last month on the first proposal.  The lawsuit is still pending.

Tera Harris (Johnson County Sheriff's Office)

The Johnson County Attorney’s Office has decided to dismiss a criminal mischief charge filed against a woman in the county jail who is accused of breaking a spork on Sunday.

Tera Grace Harris, 25, of North Liberty, was charged with fifth-degree criminal mischief after she was seen on video intentionally bending the spork that came with her dinner tray until it broke.

She told deputies, after breaking the spoon-fork hybrid, that she was trying to cut her roast beef, according to the criminal complaint.

In a statement from Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek today, he said Harris not only was accused of breaking the spork but of being disruptive, combative and difficult to handle. She was given a food tray long after normal inmate meal times, according to Pulkrabek, and she is accused of throwing food around her cell block before intentionally breaking the spork.

The sporks are “specially designed for institutions that allow for them to be washed and re-used and are semi-indestructible,” Pulkrabek said in the statement.

“The decision to charge the person for the damage is not uncommon in the jail,” he said. “But in this case, a determination was made to handle it internally now via inmate rules violation instead of pursuing the criminal violation.”

At the time of the incident, Harris was in custody on more serious charges – third-degree theft . She is currently being held in the Johnson County Jail in lieu of a $2,500 bond.

Harris also has open cases for felony second-degree criminal mischief and drug charges. Her criminal history in Johnson County is lengthy.